Beyond the Ties of Time
by FriendlyMushroom
Summary: There was once someone dear to her, someone May lost from her memories. Brendan, a friend from her past shares a similar experience. Both forgot someone dear to one another. Years after their last meeting, their roads once again link together, as they try to heal their wounds, and prove that ties can withstand time, and lost memories. Once known as Shattered Memories.
1. The Boy of her Dreams

**Hey people! OK, this is my first time in a long while in the Pokémon section. But due to the recent release of Y and X, well, I am inspired. I picked Y by the way, always fond of cool looking Pokémon.**

**But once again, and before there is bashing about my words this is my personal opinion, I was disappointed by the lack of creativity when they showed off the new Pokémon. I like none, only Froakie is decent.**

**But returning to the point, out of disappointment for the new and awful Pokémon, I remembered the good and old Generation III, man, those were Pokémon, I remember bickering with my brother about which starter we wanted, they were all cool, and there were plenty of fascinating Pokémon in Generations III and IV. After the fifth… well… it kind of went downhill. V was decent, VI is… umm… I wouldn't have minded waiting more if that delivered better-looking Pokémon (Personal opinion, please don't attack me).**

**At any rate, thinking in the good old generation III, I remembered my old story: "Shattered Memories", and decided to re-write it with better grammar, same plot, different team for Brendan, yadda, yadda, yadda, it's not the same story, ok?.**

**Now, to the MAIN POINT please. Indeed, this is a re-write from one of my oldest stories. It is a story of Brendan and May, that takes place when May leaves the crew after the Kanto Grand Festival. And despite being a Brendan and May, there will be mentions of Pokémon from the newest generations as well.**

**So, having said all this, I do hope you enjoy this story, which will have weekly updates. After all, the original version had 12 chapters. I only need to re-write them and change some stuff as Brendan's main team, which this time will be more centered for in the Manga version, perhaps only with gender differences.**

**Having said all this, I hope you read, enjoy, and review because I love reviews. Thanks a lot and no, I don't own Pokémon.**

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**Illex Forest. Seven Years Ago.**

"Are you ok? Are you lost?" When May was only 5 years old, she got lost by the woods close to Azalea Town at the Johto Region. It was then when they both met, the day everything began. "Where is your Pokémon? Didn't your parents tell you not to go into the forest or tall grass without your Pokémon?" A boy around her age wondered. May, being young and shy, faced away trying to hide from the young boy now staring at her with worried-looking eyes through his odd but nice looking glasses. "Everything will be fine. My Poochyena will protect us both. My name is…" She saw the boy moving his lips, but the only sound she could hear was the sound of a bell preventing her from hearing the name of the boy with glasses and with long and black hair that went down until arriving to his neck. "What's your name?"

"Ma…" She began and gulped hard. "…My name is… May…" She added shyly while hugging her knees close to her chest. She then saw the little Poochyena approaching cautiously, and May yelled hard, scaring the young Pokémon and forcing it to take some distance. "Scary, don't let it near me!" She added out of fear, and the boy rubbed his Poochyena's head and pushed it back gently. The boy then offered his hand to her. At first, May refused to accept his help, but she soon ended accepting it. "Don't let him get near me." She begged while hiding behind the boy as away from the Poochyena as was possible.

"Poochyena wouldn't kill a Hoppip, he is really cautious and smart, he knows its place, he is fully domesticated." The boy explained, and the Pókemon, understanding the boys words, moved his tail happily. "There it go, forever the friendly kind." He continued. "Although he is brave and strong when it is needed, something very rare in a Poochyena since they are brave most of the time. This one will never hurt you." The boy smiled for her. May couldn't help it and returned the smile. "I will help you back to the town. Since I'm new here I don't know how to go back yet. But Poochyena knows the way, so even if you fear Pokémon, right now Poochyena is our only help." And May flinched at such revelation, and moved her head several times in negation. "Trust me, we will be ok." He offered, and May finally nodded and followed the boy.

"Your name was…" Once again, the girl only heard a bell, but somehow she didn't seem to notice it and continued talking. "…How can you be so brave? Pokémon are very scary, but you trust this Poochyena a lot." The boy then smiled, and continued following the Poochyena guiding the way back to Azalea Town. The girl just nervously grabbed his hand and walked by his side, surprising the boy, but pulling a smile out of him. "Aren't you scared?" She wondered.

"Why should I? Pokémon are our friends." He insisted. "When I grow up, I want to see them all. Poochyena and I will travel around the world, we will met all kind of Pokémon and take the Pokémon League challenge together. Then we will become champions! It is my dream! And in five years, I will be able to pursue that dream." May couldn't understand the boy's enthusiasm, but she continued walking by his side, feeling safe when being around him. Next to a boy whose name she couldn't remember.

* * *

**Pokémon: Beyond the Ties of Time.**

**The Kanto Saga.**

**Chapter One: The Boy of her Dreams.**

* * *

"Your name… what was your name…? I couldn't hear it…" May moved around her bed from time to time as if trying to force her mind to remember. She moved so much that she ended falling from her bed and hitting face first the wooden made floor. She reacted to the impact and began rubbing her nose weakly. Afterwards, she dizzily tried to figure out where was she. Suddenly, everything came into place. She was inside of a ship in the middle of the way toward the Hoenn region after leaving her friends back at Kanto when the whole Battle Frontier deal was over. "…Name…? What was I dreaming about a name…?" She stood up and noticed that her brother at the bed next to hers was waking up from his sleep. The boy rubbed his eyes and placed his glasses on.

"May, why are you so noisy? I'm trying to sleep here." May smiled weakly and went back to her bed, although this time she was unable to fall asleep and kept moving around her bed from time to time trying to force slumber into her with no luck. "May! Stop that! I'm tired and want to sleep! If you aren't tired go out for a walk until you get tired! Tomorrow we arrive to Hoenn so let me sleep!" He complained and curled at his bed, giving his back to May.

"You are as annoying as usual!" May began. "Fine! I will go for a walk! But when I come back, you know I will wake you up!" She yelled while getting dressed in her usual clothes while her brother curled inside of his blankets trying to get some sleep. "Good night! I hope you sleep well!" She yelled hard and then slammed the door closed after her out of annoyance, scaring the hell out of Max, who fell down from his bed by the surprise. May, hated how Max could actually force her into bad mood so easily, even though it wasn't his fault at all. Perhaps it had something to do with becoming a teenager, but she of course ignored that last and went for a walk around the ship while yawning. "And just now sleep hits me again? It's like if someone or something just wanted me out of my room." She complained. "Whatever, I will just go for a walk." And so she did.

May walked around the empty corridors of the ship while yawning from time to time. It was early in the morning, so early not even the sun had raised, she noticed it once she made it out of the cabins area and arrived to the outsides of the ship where she stared at the calm ocean moved carefully by the light of the full moon. "What was I dreaming about again? I hate it when I wake up and can't remember it, I have had that dream before, but what was it about…? More than a dream it was like a memory." She said while staring at the reflex of the moon by the water. Maybe I should go back to sleep." But before doing as she had planned, she saw some sparkles of light falling from the back of her shoulders and saw a shadow reflecting at the water. She turned around and found nothing but a trace of sparkles of light as dust flying away. "Maybe I'm still half asleep. Wait… I think I'm starting to remember my dream… there was a strangely smart Poochyena I believe… and a boy…" She added, and faced the shy, as if the memories would fall from the sky.

The memories of her dream came back, invading her now half-awake mind. May knew that having such dreams was unnatural. Especially since these dreams seemed to be like memories of her past she had forgotten long time ago. "A Boy with a Poochyena… what does it means?" She turned around once again after hearing the sound of steps. She then saw a Mightyena walking around the ship with a hand watch on its mouth. "A Mightyena? This is surely an awful coincidence…" She mentioned while facing at the Mightyena, that walked toward the other side of the ship. There, she saw what she figured out was its owner, a boy around her same age, perhaps only a year older, and a little taller than her. What won her attention was, however, his odd looking white hair. "It seems like I'm not the only one with insomnia." She spoke out to herself, but at the other side of the ship the boy seemed to have heard her since he turned around and faced her.

"Good morning." He said while reading the time at the hand watch his Mightyena was offering to him. "Good to know I'm not the only weirdo suffering of insomnia." He added with a smile. May couldn't help it but smile back at him. The boy then walked toward her, followed by the proud-looking Mightyena, who observed May as if analyzing her. "Mind if I make you some company?" The teen flirted.

"Aren't you a little straight forward approaching to a girl like that?" And May of course noticed. But she couldn't help being at the defensive. After all, she was now alone without Ash or Brock to step up for her, she had to be careful with whatever she did. But the boy only moved his shoulders up and down ignoring the cold reply from May and kept his smile. "I guess I can use some company until I am finally able to fall asleep… for some reason I just can't seem to go back to sleep, no matter how tired I am…" She added trying to be polite.

"I sort of feel the same way." He replied while resting his back at the metal handles. "I suddenly woke up and couldn't sleep anymore. I was having an interesting dream though." And May smiled at that last, little were the men she knew that liked to speak about their dreams. "Unfortunately, I forgot everything about it once I woke up." And May nodded while knowing that feeling, but then noticed the worried stare from the teen, he looked kind of down. "Where are my manners?" The teen suddenly mentioned. "I forgot to introduce myself. The name is Brendan, future Pokémon League Champion, a pleasure to meet you." He added flirtingly.

"Brendan?" She wondered while staring at the boy. "Wait, you mean Brendan like in Brendan Birch? The son of Professor Birch?" And Brendan nodded, May then smiled widely. "I knew your face was familiar! You were that kid from the next town that was always rushing from a side of Petalburg to the other one and doing daily trainings with your Pokémon. You then would challenge my father countless times until you finally defeated him." And Brendan blinked twice trying to make some memory, and he then flinched.

"Wait a second. You are that girl, May. The one always going to the same restaurant I frequented when training at Petalburg City." And May got worried by the thought of Brendan remembering her only for her taste in food. "And the girl who always witnessed Norman's battles at the gym. You were his number one fan girl!" And May felt like tripping and falling from the ship and into the water, luckily for her though, Brendan grabbed her arm and forced her back to the ship. "Did I say anything out of place?" He wondered.

"I wasn't his number one fan girl! I am his daughter, there is a big difference!" And Brendan was surprised to hear that last and felt his jaw dropping. "I can't believe it is you! The world is surely small. I never thought we would meet again, Brendan. How have you been? Could you make it to the Pokémon League? I'm sure someone like you is a champion already, I remember your determination and hard training." But unfortunately, Brendan lowered his head at such words.

"Unfortunately, my determination and hard training wasn't enough." And May faced him, the teen was depressed. "I did make it to the Pokémon league… twice… once at Hoenn, once at Sinnoh. Both times I ended up losing…" May's face lowered when hearing that last, but there was no helping it, only one person could become a Pokémon League Champion in a year depending on the region. "Maybe it was my fault. After all, everyone told me to try the Kanto League, they say it is the easier league but with the toughest champion. I of course refused and went for a bigger challenge, the Sinnoh League, the greatest challenge of my life. And I ended up losing at the final battle… there was someone more determined than me, Sinnoh trainers are thought…" Brendan then flinched when noticing May was staring at him oddly. "Eh? Sorry, I got carried away. Anyway, what about you? Got many badges? I'm sure battling your father was a great challenge." He added trying to change the subject.

"If you hadn't noticed, I boarded the ship at Kanto. Far from any Hoenn league challenge." She added while making fun of Brendan. "How long have you been traveling on this ship anyway?" She wondered, and Brendan delivered a saddened stare to her. May then noticed Brendan had stayed on the ship for a long time, he probably boarded the ship before it made its way toward Kanto, where May boarded. "…I won't ask if it troubles you… as for me, I didn't take on the Pokémon League Championship challenge. I traveled all around Hoenn with good friends and taking place on Pokémon contests. I wasn't that lucky, I also tried the Kanto festivals, and right now I'm planning on going to Johto."

"Jotho… eh…? I was there once… long time ago…" He added, and May was surprised to hear that last. Brendan just lowered his face and stared at the now crystalline waters while rubbing his Mightyena's head with one hand as the other rested by his chin. May then noticed this Mightyena behaved as a very domesticated Growlithe, always knowing his masters feelings. "Dad told me to become the champion of Johto. After all, Johto is the place where I was born at. But Johto… the first 5 years of my life… I don't remember them. It's like if Johto was only a shadow… my first memory ever is the memory of a strange Pokémon in front of me… green and small, staring at me with his shining green eyes. Then I faint, and wake up weeks later at my bed at Hoenn, with only Poochyena by my side. Johto is just a shadow for me, one I fear to enter. But Johto is also my destination…" He finished, and May blinked twice at everything she heard.

"Brendan… you are being weird." And once again, Brendan woke up to reality. He then moved his head a good number of times trying to concentrate. "Its fine. I know you are feeling a little nostalgic. Johto is, after all, the place you were born at. Returning home after so long, I'm sure your memories will be back once you are there." And Brendan smiled, May then returned the smile, sort of embarrassed by being next to a teen so handsome-looking. "Will you take on the Pokémon Championship Challenge there?" She wondered, trying to continue with the conversation.

"Actually, I'm only traveling there to meet someone. A person who is interested in my Pokémon career." And May smiled after noticing Brendan was back to normal and that his usual smile was once again drawn on his face. "I met him after my first defeat at Hoenn, he said I had everything to become a Champion, but I was lacking something he could help me find, but well, I denied his offer trying to find it myself." And May nodded, sort of proud for that answer. Brendan then continued with enthusiasm. "Then the Sinnoh League began, and I made it to the final. He was there before I went to the battlefield and said: 'Don't be depressed by the result. He who you will face already found what you haven't', and with that thought in mind, I made it to the battlefield and lost again. Silly me, maybe I should have listened to him in the first place. So now I'm going to listen to him, he told me to meet him at his beach house at Goldenrod City." He informed, and May smiled for him.

"I do hope you have better luck this time." And once again, she got Brendan's smile as his silent reply. He seemed to be the kind of person who always looks for the brighter side of things, and May blushed at the thought and faced away nervously. "Umm… Brendan… I was wondering." She began, obviously embarrassed. "Since… since you are going to travel around Johto, and I will too… how about we travel together? If you want… that is." She finished, and her face flushed madly when such words came out from her lips.

"That would be something interesting." And May flinched when hearing his reply. Not only did she not expect Brendan to accept her offer, but also he replied so care-freely she was caught off guarded. "I would like to see how good you are at Pokémon contests… and since I have never been to Johto, I don't have the ribbons." And May blinked twice, Brendan once again just smiled and placed his hand inside of what May always thought was his hair, only to notice it was an odd-looking hat. Strings of black hair were visible, but only for a second since Brendan fixed it all inside after taking what he wanted and showing it to May.

"The Ribbon of the Hoenn Grand Festival! You are full of surprises." May added in excitement. "I can't believe you are a coordinator! And also, I can't believe that's not your hair! You designed it yourself? It looks like Zangoose fur. You better not have hurt a poor Zangoose. Can I see it?" And Brendan moved his head in negation while covering his hat and smiling weirdly. May noticed and felt somehow hurt for being pushed aside like that. "What's wrong?" She wondered.

"I don't like to be seen without my hat, that's all!" Brendan mentioned. "I didn't go to the trouble of shaving a sleeping Zangoose, who beat me up when it woke up, for people not to think this wasn't my real hair, you know?" And May gave him an odd stare. Brendan then flinched and backed off, but his escape was cut off by the girl, and when Brendan hit his back with the metal handles of the ship. May then placed both of her hands at the handles, cutting his escape, but also placing them both in an odd situation, one May apparently hadn't noticed. "You are invading my personal space." Brendan tried to explain, while May faced him directly, dangerously close from his face.

"Oh, I think I understand now. You are ending bald this young?" She said with a grin in her face, Brendan just sweat dropped at that last. "Or maybe, you made something to your hair while trying to show off in a Pokémon contest and it ended discolored and messy." And Brendan moved his head in negation. "Then what is it? Why hiding your hair?" She pointed out.

"May?! What do you think you are doing?!" Both May and Brendan heard someone yell, and both turned their attention to see Max was now awake and standing a few meters away from them. His jaw had dropped, and teary eyes adorned his face. Many other bystanders were also there and giggling at the couple. Just then, May faced Brendan and noticed what was going on. She was so close to him that it gave out the wrong impression of them making out. "I'm telling mom!" Yelled Max while pointing accusatively toward May, the girl just jumped away from Brendan and gave up on any intention on looking down his hat.

"It's not what it looks like!" She yelled in annoyance, but Max ignored her and started dialing his mother's phone through his Pokénav's newest functions. "You placed me in this problem, the less you can do is show me your hair." And Brendan moved his head in negation. May just grinned evilly. "Aw, come on, I want to see." She flirted, taking advantage of the misunderstanding and hitting his shoulder with her own.

"Wanna see? Then beat me in a Pokémon battle." He replied without thinking, trying to put out excuses to scare May away. May just blinked twice at that last. "I haven't had a Pokémon battle since my defeat at the Sinnoh League. my Pokémon are out of shape. So, if you wanna see what's bellow my hat that hard, you will have to beat me then." He added.

"I'm a Pokémon coordinator, I'm not into battles." She complained. This time, Brendan was the one grinning at her. But she stomped the wooden-made floor hard once feeling challenged.. "What is so important you want to hide from me this hard?" she complained, and Brendan rolled his eyes. May then closed her hands into fists but smiled. "Fine! Six on Six Pokémon battle, let's see how good you really are!" Her eyes shinned with the flames of a challenge. May was, after all, the kind of person who disliked not getting what she wanted.

"Six on six, but I only got… oh, never mind, she won't listen to anything I say right now Mightyena." The black Pokémon nodded, but ran after May anyway, Brendan then made his way after May and toward the swimming pools section, where a battlefield was drawn. Many trainers frequented these cruisers, so having an arena, even if it was one drawn on the wood, was needed. "Six on six, well, I guess that means I will start with Mightyena since you already know I have him. But of course, ladies first, I will allow you to do the first attack." He flirted even then, and May sort of felt for his flirt.

"Well, thank you." She added with a small blush on her face. "But don't complain once I take away your hat, ok?" But it only lasted for a second before her challenging personality arose. Brendan just nodded while smiling and crossing his arms, he was actually very confident on getting a win. "Squirtle! Take the Stage!" May called and threw her Pokéball, and from inside came her tiny Squirtle, but as soon as Squirtle came out, the little blue Pokémon flinched when seeing Mightyena, May also flinched a little since the gentle-looking Mightyena she met before was now brave and aggressive. "Eh? What a change." She added, and Myghtyena glared at her Squirtle, searching for an opening. "If I had to guess I would say it is scanning for a weak point." May noticed, and the sharp look on the Mightyena's eyes caught her attention. "Sqirtle, don't worry! It may look strong but your shell will surely protect you! Now use bubbles!" It took Squirlte a few seconds to react, but he launched his attack.

"Good attack speed. But let's see how strong it really is, endure the hit, Mightyena!" And the Pókemon got ready, receiving the hit. May was hopping Brendan would ask his Mightyena to dodge, after all, since Squirtle took long to attack she expected Brendan would be ready for it, to her surprise, though, Mightyena made no move and got hit by the bubbles. "So, how was it?" Brendan wondered. Mightyena only began shaking, cleaning the water away from its fur. "Well, it was a strong attack for a Squirtle, that as much is true, I give you credit for that. But your Squirtle is low level and needs more training, one attack should be enough, Mightyena! Thunder Fang!" He yelled, and the dark-type Pokémon launched itself toward Squirtle.

"Thunder Fang?! I never heard of that attack before!" May then saw the fangs of Mightyena being filled with electricity, and how Mightyena disappeared. But in reality, it moved fast and toward Squirtle, biting it hard all around his shell and electrifying the poor and undefended Squirtle who never saw it coming. "Squirtle! That's enough, come back!" May then faced Brendan with annoyance, the boy flinched, May had this strange ability of breaking his concentration. "Thunder Fang!? What kind of attack is Thunder Fang?! I never heard of it! You are cheating, Brendan!"

"Don't blame me. Before going to Sinnoh I didn't know it existed either. I doubt you should be complaining." But May crossed her arms in annoyance and delivered her back to Brendan, who sweat dropped at such reaction. "Anyway, I'm still ready whenever you are." He continued.

"Fine! Be like that. I will beat you even if you cheat." She said fiercely, although she was smiling the whole time. "Right now I need a Pokémon capable of taking hits. So I will have to trust you to do this. Take the stage, Munchlax!" And the round Pokémon made it out, although he rubbed his stomach with hunger. Both May and Brendan lost their equilibrium at that last. "Concentrate, Munchlax! If you do, I will give you a full plate of your favorite May's Pink and Purple Surprise Pokéblocks!" And Muchlax Happily nodded with it's mouth drowned in saliva, and got ready for battle. "That's the spirit! Let's end this and score! Focus Punch!" She said while doing some dancing movements which impressed Brendan, she was actually battling while thinking of a Pokémon contest. During his distraction, Mightyena was hit with the full force of the Focus Punch since Brendan gave no orders to Mightyena. "Direct hit!" May added happily.

"Eh? What?" Brendan reacted, and then saw Mightyena enduring the hit and pushing Munchlax back. Mightyena then turned around and roared toward Brendan in annoyance. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! She distracted me! I will be more careful now." And Mightyena nodded and faced the enemy. Brendan faced May as well. "Even if she does want to win this hard, I can't allow anyone to see what's down the hat." Brendan mentioned to himself, and then returned to be his determined self. "Ok, let's finish this. You think you can endure another hit?" Brendan wondered, and Mightyena nodded in agreement. "Do it then!" Brendan ordered, and Mightyena tensed its muscles in a defensive posture.

"What is he doing? Is he going to keep on testing my Pokémon or what?" May wondered, and both Brendan and Mightyena just waited for the next move. "Ow! If you aren't going to attack me, then I will attack you! Munchlax, Focus Punch!" She ordered, and Muchlax threw the punch, hitting Mightyena straight in the head. Although the Pokémon endured it. Suddenly, Mightyena began shinning with a brownish aura, and he threw Munchlax flying away with a sudden move of its head. "Co-Counter?" May wondered. "How could a Mightyena learn such a powerful fighting-type move?" May continued complaining, while Munchlax fell down with spiral shaped eyes toward the other side of the ship and landed on top of Max, who was still trying to type his mother's number while concentrating on the battle, only he wasn't concentrated enough to evade the falling Munchlax. "That gotta hurt." May added a little worried. "Max! Muchlax!" She yelled out worried about her brother. After all, Munchlax wasn't a light Pokémon. She breathed out in relief once Max gave her a thumbs up though. "I'm in a horrible disadvantage, already lost two Pokémon, but I'm not giving up. Your turn, Eevee, take the stage!" And the cute little Pokémon came out. "Shadow Ball!" The attack was launched, but Brendan did nothing, it was a ghost attack, weak against dark types. A cloud of shadow energy filled the ship, Mightyena then lost track of Eevee. "Quick attack!" She yelled, and Eevee came out from the cloud from a section Mightyena wasn't expecting. "Now use Iron Tail!" At such speed, Brendan wasn't able to give an order, and Mightyena got hit. Even if it wasn't an effective move, the Quick Attack, combined with the Iron Tail, was enough to hurt Mightyena, who barely could stay on its feet.

"Enough, Mightyena! We left our guard down." And Mightyena fell to the floor, tired after the beating it took. "You did a great job. It was me who failed as a trainer. Get some rest, old friend." And Mightyena waved his tail happily. The effort had lighted its mood. May then understood it had been a long while since Mightyena fought. "It was impressive! Where did you learn to combine Iron Tail and Quick Attack?" Brendan wondered.

"One of my friends I traveled with, he and his Pikachu taught me this technique. But the Shadow Ball part was my personal addition." Brendan then took his battle pose and took a Pokéball out. Fired up by the challenge. It was a Cherish Ball. May then knew the next Pokémon was surely a rare one. "Looks like you traveled a lot. I'm sure you have seen a lot of rare Pokémon." May added in expectation.

"It is indeed rare, but not from the region I got it from. The Sinnoh region. This is the one I picked as a starter. And it got a very bad temper and adamant nature." Brendan began. "But why explaining it when I can actually show you? Time to deal some damage! Infernape!" Brendan called, and flames surrounded the whole explosion of the Pokéball, revealing a fierce half fight half fire creature, who then faced Brendan fiercely, who flinched out of fear. "I know… you are mad for not battling in a while…" Brendan added, and Mightyena stood in the way, defiant to Infernape. "Let's end this quickly. But Infernape, please, it's just an Eevee." Brendan added, and Infernape faced away out of annoyance. "I'm serious." Brendan added. " Thunder Punch!" Brendan yelled, and in the blink of an eye, Infernape was in front of Eevee, and slammed an electrified fist at the poor Pokémon, who ended knocked down in a single move. "Infernape! That was too strong!" Brendan complained, and May just ran toward her Eevee.

"Aw, Eevee. Are you all right?" May grew worried, and Eevee didn't react, it just called it's own name dazzled. "That was horrible!" May yelled hard, and Brendan flinched, Infernape just smiled evilly. "Eevee… You poor thing…" May cried, forcing Brendan to feel more and more guilty. "Don't worry, everything is fine, you did a good job, now have a rest." She called it back and then took another Pokéball out. "A friend taught me never to give up even when everything looks hopeless. So even if you still have five Pokémon left. And even if you use Pokémon I had never seen before. Or even if your Pokémon is super effective against all my other types. I need to keep on trying." May added, and Brendan was impressed. "I can't use Blaziken just yet. He is my power house. If Ash could face my Blaziken with his Sceptile… I need to try. Maybe I can place Infernape to sleep! Take the stage, Beautifly!" And Brendan showed himself worried by the revelation of the Pokémon, not because of Infernape, but worried about Beautifly being toasted. "Sleep Powder!" She yelled, and Brendan understood what was going on.

"Infernape!" Brendan yelled, while Infernape began breathing the powder. "This is bad, if he falls asleep he is totally going to burn me to ashes once he wakes up. "Infernape! Flare Blitz!" Brendan tried to order, but Infernape fell to it's knee, and began snoring. "No! How can you fall asleep! You are a fire type for God's sake!" And May then began dancing around happily and cheering. "He is going to burn me, he is going to burn me, he is going to burn me." Brendan added extremely worried, and called Infernape back. "Note to self. Next town I see… buy tons of Burn heals." Brendan added, and Mightyena grew worried about its master.

"We defeated the rare Pokémon! You did it! You did it Beautifly!" May added cheerfully, and Brendan moved his eyebrow in annoyance. May only won this one because of brains, not brawl. Brendan knew he was better than this, but still had to admit defeat this time. "Fine! The numbers are almost even now! You have four Pokémon left and I got three left." And Brendan breathed out in defeat. "So, who will it be next?" She wondered.

"It's not like I have much to choose from, but you aren't going to win anymore May." Brendan added with confidence while taking a blue Pokéball with black carvings, a Net Ball. "This is my first official Pokémon. All out assault, Swampert!" It was a Pokémon May could recognize, but one she wasn't looking forward to face. As his first Pokémon, Swampert was much likely Brendan's power house, and hers was her Blaziken. "Ice Beam!" Brendan commanded, and the serene looking Swampert launched the attack fast, freezing Beautifly upon impact and scoring him a one hit knock out. "I don't believe you are feeling that lucky anymore." He teased.

"You are going to be burned!" May added out of annoyance, and Brendan flinched and began shivering. "You want to finish me off already? That hat must be hiding something really important." And Brendan nodded, May just smiled. "Even more reasons to defeat you. Type advantage! Go, Bulbasaur!" and the grass-type Pokémon growled happily upon being called to battle. May then resumed her attack. "Petal Dance!" She casted.

"Sorry May, but each time Swampert is on the field the battle is over." Brendan added, while Swampert easily dodged the attack. "Use Hammer Arm!" And Swampert forced his arm to shine, and in a single movement, it landed an attack at a surprised Bulbasaur, and knocked it unconscious. "Another one hit knock out for the record." Brendan added.

"That Swampert is stronger than it looks like. It surely got a very high level!" May said while rubbing the forehead of her now unconscious Bulbasaur. "You poor thing, you did your best, don't feel depressed. Blaziken and I will handle this." And May stood up after returning her Bulbasaur to her Pokéball. She then prepared her last Pokéball. "I will place all my trust on this last Pokémon! Blaziken! Take the stage!" And May's Blaziken made an appearance, and roared with rage reflecting his power. Brendan couldn't help it but bit his lips in concern over the powerful Pokémon. "Blaziken is my triumph card!" May added while blinking an eye at Brendan.

"I can see that. I wasn't expecting you to have such a high level Pokémon. Its skin even shines in a very intriguing red color, you have taken good care of him." And May smiled teasingly at Brendan, flirting with him, although she was only messing with him. "Still, you are in a type disadvantage, Swampert! Waterfall!" Water surrounded Swampert, and then it launches itself toward Blaziken, the power house of May's team saw it coming and evaded the hit. "That was fast!" Brendan added out of surprise.

"Fastest Blaziken you will ever see! What good is type advantage if you can't land the hit? Blaziken! Megakick!" With incredible speed, Blaziken stroke Swampert, forcing it back and shattering the wooden made floor. "Now! Blaze Kick!" It was another landing blow, this one hitting Swampert's face and messing with his visibility.

"Swampert, I don't need to remind you how important my secret is, so let's concentrate and win this one." And Swampert nodded after rubbing his face. "Use Ice Beam against his feet." Blaziken jumped avoiding the hit, but upon landing, the slippery floor forced Blaziken to lose some equilibrium. "Hammer Arm!"

"Sky Uppercut!" Swampert failed to hit, Blaziken in the other hand did hit and sent Swampert Flying. "Now use Over Heat!" Blaziken obeyed, and launched all his power toward Swampert. However, the still flying Pokémon reacted and drowned himself in another Waterfall attack, protecting himself from the flames. "You trained it well, but he isn't that fast!"

"I am aware of it. Hammer Arm lowers Swampert's speed, but Swampert's adamant nature makes him a strong physical attacker. And with the added height of Blaziken's Sky Uppercut, you are done for. Swampert! Waterfall!" And Swampert's launched himself toward Blaziken while surrounded in water, and Blaziken, despite having fast movements, ended being hit by the attack. "I win! You lose!" Spoke Brendan out while the cloud of dirt from the impact cleared. But once the cloud was gone, it revealed Blaziken was still standing. "Unbelievable." Brendan reacted out of surprise.

"Believe it! Blaziken never disappoints me! He always fights to his fullest." And Blaziken then began shining with energy. Brendan's eyes widened out of surprise when noticing that last. "And when he fights like this, his real power comes out! The power of Blaziken's Blaze!" She smiled proudly, but Brendan returned the smile. "What's so funny?" She asked teasingly.

"You thinking I don't know what Blaze is." Brendan mentioned. "Believe me, I know, and I have faced it before. But I'm sure you haven't faced Torrent." And Swampert began shining with a similar light. But this one was a blue one. "Just as Blaze is to Blaziken, Torrent is to Swampert. Of all my Pokémon, Swampert is my strongest one, and he rarely is forced to use Torrent. Congratulations, May, you pushed him this far, I acknowledge you as a formidable rival, but you won't win." Blaziken got ready, Swampert did the same. "Waterfall!"

"Overheat!" Both attacks collided, Blaziken and Swampert were both launched toward opposite directions of the battlefield, but when landing, only Swampert did on his feet. "Blaziken!" May's strongest Pokémon was out, but even in defeat, people cheered for the effort May placed into trying to defeat Brendan. "It was a great battle! You are the greatest Blaziken ever! And soon your promised victory will arrive." And Blaziken nodded, before May called it back to his Pokéball. "Guess I will never know what's behind the hat." She added in concern.

"Forget about the hat. With such battling skills, you should be aiming to the Pokémon League Championship, not Pokémon contests. You did a great job!" And May smiled and scratched the back of her head happily. Brendan then whistled toward his Mightyena, who now looked more refreshed. "Mightyena, take Swampert, Infernape and May's Pokémon to the ship's Pokémon Center. Make sure everyone is healed." Brendan mentioned while taking his belt off and delivering it to his Mightyena. May then noticed he only had 3 Pokéballs on it, the Net Ball belonging to Swampert, the Cherish Ball of Infernape, and the one she thought was Mightyena's one, a silver and gold colored one. "Don't worry, Mightyena is a smart Pokémon. He will take care of everything." And May nodded, and delivered her belt to Mightyena. "Until then, allow me to invite you something to eat." And May blushed at Brendan's invitation, and nodded in agreement. "Just like in the old days! You, me, and a plate of delicious regional food!" And May blushed once again by the memories.

"Umm… excuse me, I'm still here." Max suddenly complained. "And I don't like it when people flirt with my sister!" And May flinched and covered Max's mouth, and smiled oddly for Brendan, who just blinked twice and stared at the boy. Max just took May's hands away from him and continued. "I'm Max, May's little brother. And I'm going to keep an eye on you." Max demanded out of annoyance.

"I think what my little pest-brother is trying to say is…" May interrupted, and Max opened his mouth in annoyance trying to complain. But May once again covered his mouth, preventing him from speaking. "Is that we will gladly have lunch with you." And Brendan sweat dropped at the pair, but nodded and moved his hand asking the two of them to follow him. May then began glaring at Max as an annoyed Seviper toward a Zangoose, her little brother had ruined a moment she had begun to enjoy. "I swear it, Max. Sometimes you are just so annoying." She complained, and pulled his little brother's cheeks out of annoyance.

* * *

Half an hour later, Brendan, May, and an annoyed Max, were sharing a table with view to the sea and having some exotic looking food. Brendan and May were smiling happily and laughing, remembering the old days of their childhood together. Max in the other hand just ate his food in silence and annoyance.

"This tea was prepared using Combee honey and Cherrim leafs." Brendan explained, and May blinked twice at that last. "Both are Pokémon from the Sinnoh region. It would surprise you how many delicious dishes those Pokémon can help create." And Brendan offered his tea cup to May, and the girl accepted the offer and drank it, she was then amazed by the flavor of the delicious golden-colored tea. "That was pretty much my same reaction." Brendan exclaimed with a smile. "But it looks way better in your face." He flirted, and May felt her heart skipping a beat. She was totally infatuated with Brendan, even if they hadn't met in about two or three years.

"Stop that! I'm not the one doing funny faces!" She complained changing the subject. "It's always you! If you hadn't noticed, my mania against exotic dishes came from you! Every day you ate at the same restaurant and ordered a different dish. You wouldn't leave for a different restaurant until tasting all the dishes there were to offer." And Brendan gave May a stare full with evil intentions, Max noticed the stare and tried to swallow his food hard and say something with no luck. "What's that stare for?" She wondered.

"It's just an odd feeling." He teased. "Where you spying on me or something back at home?" And May spit her tea out of surprise, bathing Max with it. "I mean, whenever I was eating, you were staring at me oddly from outside of the restaurant. That is kinda suspicious." He continued teasing. May just flinched and blushed madly but moved her face several times in negation. "That's also an interesting reaction." And May noticed how obvious she had been behaving. "So, May. Do you really wanna travel around Johto together? There are plenty of food we hadn't tried out yet." And Max slammed his hand at the table, startling both Brendan and May.

"Excuse me! I'm still here!" Max complained. Brendan just blinked twice. May just nervously tried to force herself to smile with no luck, she was actually feeling quiet nervous. "The ship has two destines programmed for this week, one is Hoenn and we arrive there today, the other one is Johto. We are staying in Hoenn. So don't get any ideas of doing anything with my sister." Max complained, May felt like fainting, Brendan just rolled his eyes.

"Your sister and I are just friends." Brendan added, and that sort of depressed May a little. "True, I flirt around too much. It's just part of my special charm. Besides…" Brendan suddenly mentioned. "There is already someone I love." And upon hearing that last, May's heart shattered, and she lowered her face and allowed a dark aura to surround her. Max in the other hand was glad to hear that last. "I have this dream… that looks like if it was a memory…" And suddenly, May reacted. Once again, the serious expression was drawn on Brendan's face. He was even spacing out. "There is a girl in my dream, I can't see her face clearly… her long and brown hair covers her face… I'm 6 years old… she is 5 years old… we play around an unknown forest… it's not from Sinnoh, or Hoenn… it think it's Johto… since somehow in my dream I know I have been there before…" And May's dream forest haunted her mind. "There is mist around the place, but we don't care and play and laugh around the forest… then I promise I will always be with her… no matter what happens in the future… then I call her name… and all I can hear is a bell…" He finished, and May's heart froze in realization.

"…Just like my dream…" And Brendan woke up from his daydreaming and stared at May. Max just scratched his head thinking both were crazy and continued eating. "In my dream, I'm lost in a forest at Hoenn, and there is a boy there with me. He had long and black hair, and wore glasses." And Brendan faced May with interest. "Each time I say his name… I only hear a bell…" And Brendan also noticed the similarities in their respective dreams. "The boy… he travels around with his most trusted Pokémon…" And then Mightyena arrived with the belts from both May and Brendan. May noticed it, then she faced Brendan, and her eyes widened. "…You have black hair…" She began. Brendan and Max were unable to hear that last, but May continued. "And your most trusted Pokémon is…" But then, May noticed how the silver and gold colored Pokéball began shining, she then felt the time freezing, and saw sparkles of light leaving the Pokéball and hitting her face. Her eyes half closed themselves, and seconds later, she blinked slowly, and everything returned back to normal as if nothing had happened. "What… was I saying…?" She wondered, and placed her hand against her forehead.

"Excuse me! I'm still here!" May's eyes widened. She then stared at Max as he faced Brendan with annoyance. "The ship has two destines programmed for this week, one is Hoenn and we arrive there today, the other one is Johto. We are staying in Hoenn. So don't get any ideas of doing anything with my sister." And May moved her head from a side to the other one. Brendan was then about to reply to Max words, when he noticed May's odd behavior and faced the girl.

"May, are you feeling unwell?" He wondered, and May placed her hand by her forehead. She was feeling weak, and her head was aching. Brendan quickly stood up and went to her side, taking her in his arms before she collapsed. "Max! Call a nurse! May, are you ok? May! Hold on, help will come soon! Here, drink something." Brendan offered some water to May, she drank it by instinct, but then she weakly moved her head around the place. She noticed Mightyena was just arriving with the belts, and stared at the silver and gold colored Pokéball. "May, hold on, don't sleep! May! Look at me!" She stared at Brendan, and her vision blurred.

"Déjà vu?" She asked herself before finally fainting. She continued hearing Brendan's words for a while longer, and felt her body being carried princess style. But the darkness swallowed her, and she suddenly lost all consciousness.

* * *

Time later, May woke up startled and sweating hard at a bed at the infirmary. She cleaned the sweat away and turned all around the place nervously. There, she saw Brendan sleeping next to her bed, he was rubbing the silver and gold colored Pokéball from time to time, and his Mightyena was sleeping by his side. May smiled at the view, but only for a second before rubbing her forehead in annoyance and hearing the sound of a bell.

"A bell?!" She yelled hard, waking Brendan from his half-asleep state abruptly and forcing him to fall from his chair and on top of his Mightyena, who complained and bit his arm out of annoyance, forcing Brendan to stand up fast.

"Ouch! Not my sewing arm!" He scolded Mightyena, but then faced the girl at the bed. "May? You finally woke up!" And May blinked twice. She then noticed how Brendan hid his odd Pokéball inside of his pocket and away from his belt. "Are you feeling well?" She nodded. The pain in her head was gone. "I'm glad. Max and I were worried about you." And suddenly, Brendan remembered Max. "Oh, and about Max. You collapsed an hour before hitting land. The captain said he couldn't interrupt the schedule and said they should leave for Johto as soon as possible. Max had to disembark, but since you were still unconscious, the nurse said you should remain at the ship." Brendan explained. "They said it was too risky to move you to a hospital without knowing what had happened to you." Brendan continued.

"Everything is fine, don't worry, Max knows how to take care of himself." She added, glad for Brendan's attention. Something was hurting her chest, as if she had forgotten something Brendan said before, but she was still glad. "Have I been sleeping for long?" She wondered. Brendan just nodded. May then felt her stomach growling, and noticed it had been a while. "I suppose that means too long." And Brendan nodded once again.

"This is the third day. We will soon arrive to Johto." May was surprised to hear that last, even more surprised about the fact of Brendan staying 3 days next to her bed instead of enjoying the luxury of the ship. "The doctors said you were healthy. They said you just couldn't seem to wake up. I was a little worried, but somehow I knew you would be fine." And May was glad for his concern. "Do you remember anything before you collapsed?" He wondered.

"Only barely. I just know I think I forgot something important that happened." She explained. "I remember the Combee honey and Cherrim tea… then Max saying something to you… and then nothing… I just forgot I guess." And Brendan placed his hand inside of his pocket, May noticed. "How many Pokémon you are traveling with?" She wondered. Brendan just flinched. "I'm just curious." She asked once again.

"…I don't think you should be worrying about that… you need to rest…" And Brendan pushed her back to bed, but May refused, and stared at him with determination. "If this is about our battle, I only had three Pokémon, that's all I have at the moment." But May didn't feel convinced at all. "You should sleep now, I will call your parents and tell them you are fine. But once you recover and we are at Johto, you are coming with me to the nearest Pokémon Center so you can speak to them yourself, ok?" She nodded and went back to bed, Brendan then left the room. Once outside, he took his odd looking Pokéball out and stared at it. "This Pokéball again… I don't mind if it messes with my head, but getting May involved?" And Mightyena rubbed itself against Brendan, the teen rubbed it back. "Whatever is inside it wants something with May too. But it doesn't want her to know something…" And Brendan placed his Pokéball at his belt once again. He then stared at his Mightyena. "What could I have said for it to wipe out May's memories? I know it means no harm, but erasing memories isn't something I like." And Brendan pressed his hand strongly at the Pókeball. "Perhaps it is better to stay away from May before it thinks of erasing her from my mind as well." And Mightyena nodded. Brendan then began walking away and stared at the ocean, Johto was now visible, his and May's destination. Only that there was something inside of his Pokéball not wanting May to be close enough.

* * *

**Ok, the chapter received several modifications from its original version. So, if someone remembers the first version of this story, please don't try reading it, you will only end confused.**

**For no, there are a few things I need to state. First of all, this Brendan is based on Ruby from the manga. There will be some differences thought. If you have read the manga, you know he has a Mightyena named 'Nana', and that she is female. However, I'm going to have Mightyena being male in this story.**

**Also, for the curious ones who have read the first version… if there are any, the differences between this chapter and the one I posted about… let's think… two or three years ago, are as follow:**

**1 – The original version had Houndoom instead of Mightyena. But for the rewrite, I'm stinking to the original idea.**

**2 – The original version had Torterra instead of Infernape. But for the rewrite I changed it to Infernape for the purpose of exploding Brendan's coordinator career. And also, because since Houndoom was replaced, Brendan needed a fire Pókemon. A third reason is a rivalry with May's Blaziken.**


	2. Mixed Emotions

**Thanks a lot for your kind reviews everyone who reviewed. And for those who didn't, well, thanks for reading, I mean, I got a good number of hits for this story, far more than I was expecting.**

**At any rate, I like replying to the reviews in public, I hope that doesn't bother you guys and gals. The reason I do this, is because there are many anonymous readers who either reply as "Guest" or as a onetime only reviewer, and since they don't have an account, I can't reply to them. For such reason I reply in public, so no one stays without a reply from my part.**

**Having said all this, let's reply to the reviews:**

**Guest: Told ya so, people who don't have an account and I still wish to reply to them. Reading your review, I can see you read "Shattered Memories" the first time I wrote it. Very appreciated. And I will keep on with the rewriting of this story, worry not about it. I'm glad you liked the change on Brendan's team. In the original version I used Houndoom instead of Mightyena because, let's face it, Mightyena must be one of the worse Pokémon there are. But being faithful to the main character, in this case Brendan, is more important. I mean, it's like if in a fanfic someone wanted to kick Pikachu out of the picture to have Electivire in Ash's team. I mean, we all would love to, but that wouldn't be Ash. So I'm sticking to the original (in other words, his team from the manga as Ruby, and his team from the cameos). Speaking about the cameos, I will speak about them, for starters, and this isn't a spoiler from my story but a fact, Brendan lost to Lucas in the final battle of Sinnoh League, that's almost canon.**

**Aaron Crimson: I will continue it my friend. I am going to post weekly updates. Only last week I was sick and at bed with the flu (although playing Pokémon Y), so I couldn't finish the edition on time. I can promise you there will be weekly updates though because this is a re-write from one of my old stories, so at least 12 chapters are already written, only need an edition to change Brendan's team, and a little of the storyline to place Y and X in the picture. At this very moment it's not too evident the relationship with X and Y, but soon it will.**

**Having said all this, thanks for your time, and enjoy chapter two.**

* * *

"…A Bell…?" May spoke out during her sleep. She was sweating hard and kicked her blankets away trying to refresh her now sweating body. During her moving, Brendan, sleeping at a chair next to May's medical bed, woke up from his sleep and stared at the girl. "Why can't I hear your name?" Brendan then saw how May's body was hit by golden and silver lights. The Pokéball at his belt was reacting to May's dream. "…Who are you…?" She wondered once again, and Brendan understood what was going on.

"…Then… what I suspected turned out to be true… it wasn't only me the one having those dreams and hearing the bells…" Brendan mentioned while taking his odd-colored Pokéball out and stared at it with a concerned look. "I know you mean no harm, I know you have your intentions… but please, stop erasing her memories." He begged to the Pokéball, as if knowing May was the victim of its power. "You can erase mines all you want… but leave May out of this." But the Pokéball continued shining, its warm light was relaxing, Brendan knew it since he, better than anyone, understood the powers of the Pokéball. "You want her close to me… but you also are placing your barriers… that I can understand. I know I promised to look for a way to help you out, but of all people, why are you involving my childhood friend? May, what can you be dreaming about? Were our past lives mixed somehow?" Brendan wondered, unable to stop the Pokéball from whipping May's memories.

* * *

Inside of May's mind, the answer to that question was unclear. May was walking alone by the forest, but apparently, she was looking for someone she had been playing with. "Where are you? I don't like being all alone! Where are you…?" May mentioned a name, but it was silenced once again by the bells. The dream then continued.

"I'm here!" The black haired boy called while running toward the girl, he cleaned his glasses and placed them on while smiling. "There are many legends involving this forest, it is say that only those whose hearts are pure can walk around these woods and find the secret shire of the spirit of the forest. Come on, May, we must find the shire. Come with me… will lead the way!" The boy spoke with enthusiasm, but a bell erased yet another name from her memory. May faced the owner of such name and only saw a shadow there, something was missing, but May didn't notice at all despite still being hiding from the shadow. "You have known… for two months already, one would tell you would have gotten used to him already." The boy complained.

"I told you, I fear Pokémon. Don't you remember what happened at the beach with the Tentacool?" And the boy laughed out loud. The girl just ignored him out of annoyance. "Meany! Don't make fun of me!" She continued complaining. "Hey…" She began and called his name, but the bells silenced her words. "In 4 years… you will start your Pokémon journey. Does that mean we will never see each other again?" She wondered while pulling her skirt nervously, and in sadness. "Will you be gone, forever?" Outside of her dream world, May struggled around trying to remember the name of the boy, but all she managed to do was find her mind invaded by the sound more and more bells.

"Don't be ridiculous, May. No matter what happens in the future, I will always be with you! That's a promise!" And at such words, the young five years old May blushed. She then hugged the kid and laughed out loud. "May, you and I will always be friends… and here we will leave a mark so we never forget." The boy mentioned, while taking a sharp stone and carving on a tree their names. "If we ever come back to Johto, this mark will remind us about our promise!" He finished, showing off his carving on the tree to the girl. May saw her name, but bellow it, there was darkness. His name was erased by a mysterious energy."

* * *

**Pokémon: Beyond the Ties of Time.**

**The Kanto Saga.**

**Chapter Two: Mixed Emotions.**

* * *

The sound of a bell announcing the arrival of the ship to land startled May out of her semi-sleeping state. She moved her head a good number of times as she remembered what she was doing before starting daydreaming about the now usual dream for what seemed to be the third time that day. She had everything ready for her new trip around the Johto region, although she was still unsure of where was she supposed to take on part of her contests. Right now, the ship to Goldenrod City was announcing the time to disembark, but she still remained at the ship, endlessly waiting for Brendan to come.

"She is still waiting, Mightyena." Brendan added at his hiding spot just outside of the restaurant of the ship. The Mightyena just rolled it's eyes out of annoyance and made its way out of their hiding spot. "Wait! What are you doing?" He yelled in a whisper, but his Mightyena ignored him and ran toward the distracted May, who upon noticing the surprisingly freidnyl Pokémon, smiled and greeted him with a hug. "Mightyena you traitor!" Brendan yelled to himself. The Mightyena of course ignored him despite still being able to hear him thanks to his powerful ear. "The plan was to leave her behind… guess there is no turning back already… good morning, May!" He faked his enthusiasm while coming out of his hiding spot.

"Took you long, Brendan. I thought I was going to end up leaving without you." May declared. Brendan just sweat dropped and moved his head in negation nervously. May noticed his odd behavior and blinked twice at his reaction. "Anything troubling you?" She wondered, he flinched, but still, Brendan moved his head in negation once again. "So, what will we do now? Shall we go meet your friend, or ask information about Johto's Pokémon contests? You will enter them too, won't you? After all, you are a master coordinator, I can't wait to see your performance, I feel Beautiflys in my stomach when thinking about it!" May added cheerfully.

Your enthusiasm is overwhelming." Brendan complained. "I'm not really sure if I'm going to take part on the contests anymore, but that's not important. How about we go to Goldenrod Radio Station and get your inscription ready for the contests. Then we will know if our destinations will be linked or not." And May faced Brendan oddly. The boy with the white hat just flinched by her stare, it was as if an Arbok was using glare against him. "What?! Tell me already! I don't like it when you look at me like that!" He added out of fear from her glare. But May suddenly smiled cheerfully, and Hugged him hard. "Wha! Don't do that so out of the sudden! What gives?!" He asked, his face sort of flushed by May's actions.

"Brendan, you are so sweet!" And he blinked twice at that last. "You don't want to take part on Pokémon contests because you are afraid of defeating me and hurting my feelings! That's why you are being this reserved toward me, am I right?" She deduced cheerfully. Brendan just scratched the back of his head nervously. "But don't worry, I will do my best. Even if we are friends, we are rivals as well. We will enter the contests together, it will be fun! Come on! I can't wait for the contests to start!" And so, May ran away toward the radio station cheerfully. Brendan just sweat dropped at everything that was going on.

"If this continues, my hair will turn white for real and I will no longer have to use this Zangoose-fur made hat." Brendan added while following May toward the Radio station, not being at all convinced about his whole situation just yet.

* * *

Inside of the radio station, May happily ran around the place and enjoyed the view of the many beautiful Pokémon ready for their registration in the contests. Many performers were talking with their Pokémon or showing off their beauty. For May, it was a paradise. For Brendan, it was awful. His eyebrow was tickling him with everything he was witnessing. Mightyena seemed to have noticed such annoyance in Brendan, and decided to win some distance from him.

"We made it to Johto!" Yelled May happily. "I'm so anxious! Those beautiful Pokémon! Look at the fur of that Furret! Where should I register? I want to start the contests right away!" May spoke out with anxiety while jumping up and down happily because of her excitement. Brendan just faced her odd performance and sweat dropped. He then faced the Pokémon once again, and his annoyance scaled to boiling points.

"Unacceptable!" He suddenly yelled, and May flinched and turned around to see him. "That Usaring's fur is too long! Trainer! You should care about the appearance of your Usaring more! Its fur isn't brushed, it isn't even cut down! But don't worry, Usaring! Your fur can still be fixed!" Brendan added toward an aggressive looking Usaring. Brendan then took some scissors from out of his pockets, as well as many other beauty instruments, and began fixing the Usaring's fur without asking it's trainer for permission. May then felt her jaw dropping as she saw Brendan, moving around the annoyed Usaring, cutting down the fur, brushing it, combing it. All that while the annoyed Usaring tried to hit Brendan from time to time with its claws. "Beautiful!" Brendan spoke out as he finished his work. Usaring's fur was now sparkling clean, and even the annoyed Usaring had to admit that allowing Brendan to fix his fur wasn't at all that bad.

"What the hell was that?!" Yelled May out of surprise while staring at the now shining Usaring. Every coordinator around the place then stared at it in amaze. Brendan just posed for the public, showing off his incredible skills. "Such performance! Brendan is surely a master in Pokémon contests!" May admitted out of admiration.

"Beauty, Strength, Cuteness, Coolness, and Intelligence! If a Pokémon is to become a champion in contests it's trainer most exploit these five characteristics in a Pokémon." Brendan began, his tone of voice the one of a master coordinator. "Keeping a Pokémon clean and well cared for is the first step toward beautifulness!" He spoke out proudly, and many girls around the place stared at him with heart shaped eyes. May shared a similar feeling but couldn't help feeling annoyed by the attention Brendan was winning from the opposite gender. Brendan then took his two Pokéballs out and launched them, releasing from them his Infernape and Swampert. Mightyena also joined the group. "All my Pokémon share the same care, since they are masters in battling and contests. A well-cared Pokémon will shine and display their beauty!" And they all showed off their traits. Infernape its coolness, Swampert its toughness, Myghtyena its smartness, and everyone clapped at the Pokémon. All of Brendan's Pokémon shined with the light of their furs. Many fan girls approached to him and began asking for his help with their Pokémon. Brendan just spun his scissors and began caring for them.

"Umm… Brendan, aren't you going a little too far? I mean, I like Pokémon contests too and all that, but should you really be showing off like this?" May wondered, but Brendan was too centered in playing the Pokémon stylist as to notice May. The girl just smiled at his passion, and turned around to face the counter. "Well, I guess that means my registration will be easier now." She deduced and walked toward the front desk, where she waved her hand in front of the woman in charge. The counter girl woke up from her stare at Brendan, and placed her attention toward May. "I'm sorry to interrupt your gazing but, I wish to register for the Pokémon contests!" And the woman nodded and began registering May.

"How come everywhere I go, I end finding you doing something stupid?" May heard and then turned around, startled by the voice. Her heart froze, and she began sweating hard as her ears turned red as well as her cheeks. "Long time no see, May." The young and green haired boy said while offering a rose to May. The girl then blushed madly, but accepted the gift. "Seems like we will be rivals again. But I'm more concerned about the weirdo you travel with. Will he also take part on the Pokémon contests?" The boy wondered.

"Dre-drew, ah, well, you see, I really have no idea." She added nervously, to which Drew raised an eyebrow. "We are traveling together for now, but our destinations may not be the same at all!" She added while trembling. It was an odd feeling, May was never this weak when being in front of Drew, even if she had a minor crush on him. The truth was, she was afraid Brendan would notice it all. She then flinched in surprise when she noticed Brendan taking his attention away from the Sunflora he was placing some wax on, only to place that same attention, perhaps more, toward May. "He saw me?!" May flinched.

"Saw you?" Said Drew while staring at May in confusion. May then saw Brendan redirecting his look toward the rose she now had on her hands, May flinched even more. "Is that boy your boyfriend or something?" and she felt like fainting when hearing that last. She then felt her rose being taken off of her hands and saw Brendan by her side with it on his hands. She couldn't even start thinking about how Brendan made it next to her so fast, she only knew Brendan was pointing some scissors toward the rose and smiling evilly. "May I know what do you think you are doing with the rose I presented?" Drew added in arrogance.

"First things first, I will answer your question by saying I prefer being called May's childhood friend than her boyfriend. We aren't more than just that." Brendan explained coldly, and May felt her heart shattering, and was then swallowed by a dark aura of sorrow. "And second, when presenting a flower, much likely a rose, you should first cut the thorns with care so you don't kill the rose before time." Brendan explained while cutting the thorns, and then he approached his Swampert. "Then, you should spray it with some water, to give the illusion of it's grand beauty after a raining day." He explained while asking his Swampert to spray it gently. "Then you hit it softly a couple of times against the palm of your hand in favor of spreading the drops of water around the petals. Not too strongly or you will cut the petals off. And finally, you present it to the girl like this." He said while taking May's hand and placing the rose carefully at her hand, "A beautiful rose, for an even greater beauty!" He added with a gentle tone of voice, and May couldn't take it anymore, she fell to her knees with the flower in hand and her flace totally flushed. Her heart was racing faster than ever before. "Beautiful, just beautiful!" Brendan finished. But of course he was talking about his own performance. Only May was too embarrassed as to notice it.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Wallace's number one fan?" Drew complained. May just woke up by the mention of Wallace's name. The former gym leader of Sootopoli's Water Gym, and current Pokémon League Champion and Master Performer in Pokémon contests, was her all time idol. "Your attitude, movements, and style, are all Wallace's ones. Stop showing off like that you copycat!" Drew added out of hatred.

"You just don't know how to appreciate real beauty!" Said Brendan while posing, May just blushed at the view. "Calling my performance a copy is an insult! My master would be disappointed to hear your complaints. After all, Wallace admires my moves as I admire his. I am Brendan, champion of the Hoenn Grand Festival, and Wallace's only apprentice!" And everyone's jaw dropped, May's included. "This Pokémon contests held in Johto, are double team contests, aren't they? By the way you approached to May I'm sure you were planning on asking her to be your partner." Brendan asked in an accusative way.

"Eh? Double contests?" May reacted and stared at the lady showing her contest pass to May, there was room for a second coordinator. "Unbelievable! Johto contests are double teamed ones? So different from the contests back at home! Brendan! Will you team up with me?!" She asked without thinking, and Drew flinched when hearing that last, Brendan shared a similar reaction when remembering his silver and gold Pokéball. He was supposed to take his distance. And now, thanks to his showing off, he ended in such situation. "Oh… were you going to ask me to be your partner, Drew?" May wondered innocently, the green haired boy nodded. Brendan just felt a vein popping at his forehead. "…This is uncomfortable…" Spoke May out while staring at the pair.

"There is nothing to feel uncomfortable for!" Spoke Brendan out with anxiety. Every look was directed at him since the proud coordinator had lost his coolness. "I mean, em…" He cleared his throat nervously and returned to his performing pose. "I mean. Who would you rather team up with? A Master Coordinator and Champion of Hoenn's Grand Festival? Or just an aspiring champion with no knowledge about the slightest laws of etiquette and beauty?" He added out of hatred, a hatred he didn't know where it came from.

"But Brendan, I thought you had a mission." May began. "And don't place it like that! I don't like it when people show off so much!" And Brendan lost his equilibrium and fell. Drew smirked at that last. "Brendan, I wanted us to be opponents. Having you as my teammate would ruin that, wouldn't it?" She added sweetly. Brendan just couldn't help it but blush. "But, I also want to have Drew as my rival. After all, I came here knowing he was going to register for these contests!" And a vein popped at Brendan's forehead. Drew just posed for May, forcing her to feel uncomfortable. "Eh? This is such a difficult decision." She admitted.

"Please, there is no way I can lose to a show off as your boyfriend here!" Drew added, and Brendan was about to yell they were only childhood friends, when he noticed the surprised-full look on May's eyes and her blushing face. It was a face full with anxiety, and so, Brendan decided to remain in silence. "I will show you who is worth of the title of Pokémon Contest Master in a one on one battle!" Drew added and threw his Pokéball after displaying some moves. From it, his Roserade came out. May was surprised to see that Pokémon. Drew's Roselia had evolved not long ago, but May was unaware of such happening until now!

"I will accept your challenge!" May added and pushed Brendan away and stood defiant against Drew, who backed off surprised. The challenge was thrown against Brendan, not her. "If I can beat you now, then it means I have conquered my sworn rival. So that means that if I beat you, I will travel with you!" And both Drew and Brendan sweat dropped. May had an odd way of selecting partners. "If you win, then it means I still haven't defeated you, which means I will travel with Brendan and try to defeat you!" She explained.

"Wait, aren't you mistaken? You are saying that if Drew wins you will come with me instead of the other way around?" Brendan tried to decipher. May just nodded with one of her usual childish smiled. "That makes no sense! He will lose on purpose so you can travel with him!" Brendan complained,

"He won't do such a thing, because I would never forgive him if he allowed me to win. And since we are rivals, the thing he hates the most would be me beating him!" And Drew blinked twice, May had some odd ideas, but her determination was admirable. "I will do my best to defeat him, and if that happens then I'm sorry, Brendan, but I will join Drew in Pokémon contests, since then you will be my one and only rival!" May finished while pointing at him.

"Girl, you are crazy." Brendan added. "Isn't it easier to just throw a coin?" But May ignored Brendan and threw her Pokéball. From it, her Beautifly came out. "That look on her eyes… she is ready to push her rivalry toward higher limits… this is all so strange, is she really this determined?" Brendan wondered, and crossed his arms in favor of analyzing the contest taking place.

"I don't quite understand what is going on, but it's true. As your supposed rival, the least I would like is you beating me. Roserade, let's display our beauty with a Magical Leaf Attack!" And the battle began, much for the confusion of the many witnessing it. The leaf thrown toward Beautifly shined with power and grace and stroke Beautifly directly, but May's Beautifly unleashed some spores, allowing the sparkles of light to fill its wings and reveal the beauty of its colors. "Spores?" Drew asked.

"Not for attacking but for displaying Beautifly's beauty! Now we combine the spore attack with Silver Wind!" May ordered, and her Beautifly unleashed the attack, transforming the wind into a whirlwind that shined with the light of Beautifly's wings. The wind then reached Roserade, who endured the hit by planting its roots at the floor. "Ingrain!" She added out of surprise.

"I never take a challenge lightly, even if it means losing a partner. This battle is between you and my performer's reputation, which means I have a reputation to keep. Roserade, use Sunny Day!" And a strong light left Roserade's body. It shined with the sparkles of the spore attack Beautifly unleashed, surrounding the whole room with rainbow colored light. "You used my attack to place the spores in place, now I will use the same spores to create a rainbow of light, since there are no judges here I can't do a thing but show off some moves, but as a battle, I aim for the win. Roserade, SolarBeam!" Drew commanded.

"Beautifly! Use SolarBeam too!" May replied. Brendan's eyes then widened. He then faced his Mightyena, the Pokémon nodded, and jumped toward the middle of both attacks. "What are you doing?!" May asked, Brendan said nothing, he didn't even need to command his Pokémon who attack. Mightyena was smart enough as to know what to do. It shined with a brownish light, and received both attacks, preventing them from touching one another, and then the effect of its Counter followed, launching powerful blasts of browning energy back to the attackers, and knocking them both down. "Might… Mightyena just received two SolarBeams." She added out of surprise, but then she recovered, and faced Brendan out of annoyance. "Brendan! What was all that about?!" She demanded for answers.

"You fool!" Was Brendan's reply. "Only you can think on launching a SolarBeam to counter another SolarBeam! I don't care how determined you are, you can't be this reckless! Those two explosions forced the building to shake! What do you think would have happened if both had collided?!" Brendan continued. May and Drew then exchanged looks, Brendan just angrily called his Mightyena back with a whistle. "Determination and skill are two different things. Both of you should learn that before casting your attacks! Using your opponent's attack to display the beauty of your Pokémon, and concentrating in defeating your rival, are two different things as well! A Pokémon contest isn't about battling but about beauty, wake up you two! Hit and be hit, this isn't a Pokémon battle!" He scolded.

"I hate to admit it… but your boyfriend is right." Drew added. "We got carried away trying to surpass one another. If this was a contest, the judges would have announced a winner. There wouldn't be the need to defeat the other Pokémon." And May nodded, Drew just smiled. "I learned some interesting things of this battle. Fine then, I guess you will have to battle with Brendan. After all, now I have a different objective." And May was confused by such words. Brendan just nodded with determination. "I will see you two in 80 days for the inauguration of the first contest. Until then, train hard to become a Master Performer as your partner." Drew finished, waved his hand, and walked away after calling his Roserade back.

"Wait! Drew! I haven't taken a decision yet!" She yelled in annoyance, Brendan just moved his head in negation. "Anyway, I don't know if I was going to win or not, but I promised to travel with you around Johto. Even if Drew was my partner, we would end up traveling together you know, interrupting the battle wasn't needed." May explained.

"I didn't interrupt it to earn him the win. I'm serious when it comes to battling and contests. I just didn't want to get anyone else involved in your explosion." And May understood the dangerous move she made. "Your Pokémon are strong, May. But they need skill and performance, not strong attacks and raw power. I hope 80 days are enough to teach you how to combine both for the win." And May nodded. She then widened her eyes and took her Pokénav out. "What are you doing?" Brendan asked.

"The first contest is in 80 days, right?" And Brendan nodded. "Today is Second of July. In 80 days is September 20, the day of my birthday! Isn't that just great!" She yelled happily, but she then flinched. "Wait… today is the second of July? That day rings a bell." She added and gave it some thoughts, Brendan just sweat dropped. "I know I know it… it was very important, I can't forget important dates… ah!" she suddenly remembered. "Brendan's birthday!" She added and pointed at him. "It's true! Back at Hoenn we used to have some desserts for your birthday before you once again tried to defeat my father!" May explained. "I can't believe I forgot! I'm so sorry!" She excused herself and made several reverences.

"There is no need for you to worry. We haven't seen each other's for two years until recently. It isn't like I was expecting a present from you at all you know?" May nodded, but still lowered her face with disappointment. Brendan noticed her depression, and placed a caring arm around her shoulder, forcing her to blush madly. "Hey, just forget about it. So, what do you say? Partners? Shall we take on the Pokémon contest for Johto as a team?" He asked, and May nodded with embarrassment. Brendan then delivered his Pokédex to the counter lady for her to register him. "Then it's settled, I will teach you how to combine both power and beauty for your performances, let's do our very best!" Brendan finished.

"Sure!" Said May with enthusiasm. She then stared at Brendan's Pokédex and smiled. "Can I borrow this?" She suddenly jolted before the counter lady could deliver the device back at him. "You need to meet your friend at his beach house. I wasn't invited, so, until then, I wish to play with your Pokédex if you don't mind." And Brendan gave May and odd stare, the girl just sweat dropped at that last. "I just want to know what kind of Pokémon you use for your Pokémon contests! Also, the Pokédex registers what moves they know, if I get a good look at it, I will perhaps become a better trainer and coordinator!" She continued.

"Yeah, that is true but… why are you being so pushy?" He asked while being pushed by May out of the Radio Station. "You are planning something, aren't you? I can read you as an open book!" Brendan complained. And May just smiled nervously. But once they were out of the Radio Station, she ran away while waving her hand at him happily. "May, you truly are an odd person. "Brendan admitted with a smile on his face. "Well, I guess it can't be helped. But just to be in the safe side." Brendan added, and kneeled down to his Mightyena's height. "Go and follow her… that girl gets in trouble often, you better keep her safe." And his Mightyena nodded and ran after May. Brendan then made his way toward the beach at the outsides of Goldenrod City.

* * *

Far away from Goldenrod City, May finally quit her running and stared at Brendan's Pokédex. It was far more advanced than her own, even better than Ash's one. She opened the Pokédex and scrolled down searching for Brendan's Pokémon gallery. "Wah! There are so many Pokémon I have never seen before, and he has trained many strong Pokémon already! Delcatty, Kirlia, Castform, Mitolic, Shifty, Aggron, Sharkpedo, Rhyperior, Swampert, Infernape! All of these are powerful and evolved Pokémon! Well… all minus Kirlia… I wonder why." And May continued scrolling down. "Eh?" May blinked twice when noticing there was another Pokémon's data. The number was replaced by 3 question marks and the name read no data. "A Pokémon whose data isn't registered?" May wondered, she was then startled by Brendan's Mightyena coming out from the bushes. She then hid the Pokédex, and faced the Pokémon. "Mightyena! What a surprise! Did Brendan ask you to take care of me?" She wondered, and the smart Pokémon nodded understanding her words perfectly. May then noticed something and took the Pokédex out, there was no data of Brendan actually having Mightyena registered in his Pokédex.

"Wait… Brendan always keeps you outside… then that means… the third Pokéball isn't empty… he has a fourth Pokémon with him… he never actually captured you!" And Mightyena nodded once again. "But that can't be! You can't keep traveling without anything naming you as Brendan's property, someone could capture you!" And Mightyena moved its head in negation. "Whatever Brendan is hiding in that strange Pokéball must be something really important. Gosh, he truly is full of secrets. First his hat, and now this?" And May then rubbed Mightyena's fur. "I can't allow you to stay without a tag or something. I promise to get you one. But that wasn't what I wanted to find out when I took Brendan's Pokédex. Today is his birthday, back at home he always gave me something for my birthday… I always forgot, I have never given him anything. So I was planning on capturing a Pokémon for him, but all his Pokémon are so strong and I don't know which one would he like, do you have any idea?" She wondered.

Mightyena then faced May with curiosity, and somehow May knew Mightyena was analyzing her, he was truly a smart Pokémon, perhaps the smartest she had ever seen. Mightyena then rubbed its fur against May's face, which meant the Pokémon actually liked her. It then began running and smelling all around the forest.

"Wait! Mightyena, don't run so fast! I'm no Pokémon." She complained. Many Pokémon ran away from Mightyena as he ran around the place, he found some Furret and ignored them, then he ran into some Natu's best and ignored them as well. May thought perhaps a Hoppip would be a cute Pokémon to capture for Brendan's Pokémon contests, but Mightyena blew it away before May could think on capturing it. "Are all these Pokémon not worth the training?" She asked, and Mightyena faced May with interest. "Sorry, wrong selection of words." And Mightyena nodded. "I guess what I am trying to say is, what Pokémon are Brendan's style. Sometimes I think contest kind of Pokémon, but then I remember Infernape and it gives me the chills… as odd as that sounds from a fire Pokémon. Most of his Pokémon are even very bulky and strong." And Mightyena nodded. "So… he likes to train strong Pokémon?" And Mightyena nodded. "What sort of?" She wondered, and Mightyena rushed away. "Hey! Wait for me!" And Mightyena suddenly stopped, and began growling at a Pokémon in front of it. "Is that a Pokémon Brendan would like?" May asked, and Mightyena nodded. May then smiled, the Pokémon was an Elekid, an electric type. Of all the Pokémon registered on Brendan's Pokédex, there was no electric type. "Elekid is just a perfect present then, and it sure looks strong. It is settled then, I will capture that Elekid!" She added, and readied a Pokéball.

* * *

"Hello? Anybody home?" Meanwhile, Brendan had been traveling close to the beach until reaching a small cottage that was his friend's beach-house. He had knocked the door a good number of times, but no one replied. During his knocking, the door opened reveling the insides of the small cottage. It was full with trophies, meaning his friend was a great trainer. "Mr. Giovanni?" Brendan asked. Once again no one replied, or at least no one from the inside, since from the outside, someone spoke out.

"Brendan? What a pleasure to see you again." A man added, and Brendan turned around to meet the man and smiled. The man coming from the beach was tall and strong, and dressed in a crimson red suit. By his side was his full-time protector, a Persian. "I expected you to come earlier. I was starting to think you weren't going to show up." The man continued, and entered the cottage, asking Brendan to follow him inside with a movement of his hand.

"I would never fail to my word, Mr. Giovanni." Brendan began. "As I had promised, I have come to learn what I'm missing. I'm tired of being a second place, Mr. Giovanni. I'm ready to do whatever it takes to become a champion." And Giovanni smiled and sat down at his living room, also asking Brendan to sit. "I have trained all over Hoenn and Sinnoh. My previous master, Wallace, taught me many things. However, he mostly taught me about contests and said the road to become a master was one I should find on my own. But if you say you can teach me, then I will do anything." Brenda informed.

"Wallace is currently a Pokémon Master is I'm not mistaken." Giovanni added. "Indeed his technique is intriguing, but incomplete. His words, however, are true. To become a champion you need to be strong and passionate, but you must find the way yourself." And Brendan lowered his face, but nodded in agreement. "All I can do is show you the right way. If you follow my orders, and do exactly what I tell you to do, you will surely find the answers you are seeking for. Tell me, Brendan, do you really want to become a champion?" He asked, and Brendan took out a deep breathe, apparently, in desperation.

"It's everything I want." He added calmly. "Ever since I was a kid, it had been my dream. I want to become the greatest. I'm sick and tired of being the second place, I don't want to just be a trainer, I want to be an Elite, the greatest trainer ever!" And Giovanni smiled. "Please teach me, I will do anything." He insisted.

"Then I will teach you." Giovanni continued. "I have various missions in mind for you to complete. The hand watch you currently have in your wrist is one I gave to you the last time we met. It is similar to the Pokéwatches that are currently on sell at Sinnoh, but with many different functions. From now and on, we will communicate using these watches." And Giovanni showed his own to Brendan, the boy nodded. "I will assign you various missions. I don't care about how long it takes you. You can even take your time if you wish. But you must complete them and inform your progress to me." And Brendan accepted the terms. "Your first assignment is to travel around the Kanto region and defeat the trainers I have assigned for you. I'm sending their profiles to your Pokéwatch." Giovanni continued.

"The Kanto region? But I thought I could start my trip here in Johto." Brendan added in disappointment. "After fearing coming back here for so long, my mission is elsewhere?" And Giovanni crossed his arms in disapproval. Brendan then took a deep breath and nodded. "As I said, I will do anything to become a Master." Brendan corrected.

"That's the spirit." Giovanni replied. "You will have a reward with each success. The more missions, the more rewards you will get. Oh, and remember, you should keep our friendship a secret. I don't want all trainers in the world seeking for my help, I'm a selective person. I only select the best trainers to complete these tasks." And Brendan made a reverence. Giovanni just moved his hand as asking him to leave. "The meeting is over, I'm a busy person. Follow the instructions I gave you and do your best. I'm looking forward to your success." And Brendan nodded, and left the beach house.

Brendan then traveled around the beach for a while with his mind running over and over the subject. Going to Kanto wasn't at all part of his plans, and he knew he was now aiming to the Pokémon contest championship with May. How to inform May about his new destination was now a huge problem, one he wasn't looking forward to face yet. Unfortunately, his Mightyena running toward him with May following close behind said different. "Mightyena? What happened to you! Look at yourself you are all bruised! May? What in the world happened! Your whole body is bruised as well and your clothes are all burned! Are you ok? Did someone attack you?" Brendan added out of concern.

"We are fine, we are fine!" Spoke May out with enthusiasm, but Brendan wasn't at all sure of that. May seemed to have been the victim of an electrocution, with her hair all messed up and sparkling with static, and her clothes being tore off in many sections around her waist and shoulders. "Brendan! Happy Birthday!" She said while offering an Ultraball to him. "I know you are very selective about your Pokémon, and I know you like capturing them in different styles of Pokéball… this one was very hard to capture, he has a very adamant and electrifying personality. And he is strong too! Mightyena had to help me on the capture, and we both ended shocked, tee hee!"May giggled, and Brenda got worried about the mental stability of May, but accepted the Ultraball she was delivering to him.

"…But… your clothes… your hair… your health! May, what you did was too reckless!" And May nodded while stinking her tongue out at him. "Mightyena… you helped her, didn't you? I'm sure you went looking for the strongest Pokémon around the area!" Brendan scolded, and Mightyena rolled its eyes out of annoyance. "What if something had happened to May?" And Mightyena ignored Brendan once again. The boy then took a deep breath and opened the Ultraball, releasing an Elekid. "This is… an Elekid?" Brendan was surprised, it wasn't just any Elekid, it was a strong looking one, he even stomped the floor hard in defiance once seeing May, and the girl backed off in fear. "A Pokémon from this region… I see… thank you, May… it's the best present I could ask for." Brendan confessed.

"You hear that? He liked it!" She jumped out of excitement. She then remembered something, and searched for an object inside of her bag. "Also, I have a second present. This one is for Mightyena. We passed by the Pokémart on the way back here, but I was careful enough not to let him see what I bought. With this, you won't have problems with anyone trying to steal your Mightyena!" She kneeled and placed a collar around Mightyena, it was blue and with a silver tag that read, 'OT: Brendan.' "I hope you like blue, since it is my favorite color, I thought it had look great on him!" May continued, and Brendan couldn't stop staring at her and at her cheerful personality. May was surely something far beyond his understanding.

"…May…" Brendan began. May just smiled and stared at him with joy. "Come with me to the Kanto region." He finished, and May blinked twice. Brendan just gulped, he was truly embarrassed. "I met my friend. He asked me to travel to the Kanto region for some assignments. I know it is sudden, and I know you wanted to take part on Johto contests. At first I thought our ways weren't linked and should part ways… but now… I want to get to know you a little more." He confessed, and May felt her heart freexing at such revelation. "So…? Will you… come with us…?" Brendan asked.

"The Kanto region?" And Brendan nodded while trying to hide his blush. May thought about it, and then nodded in agreement. "Why not?! It will be a nice adventure! We have 80 days to get ready for the tournaments after all. Here or Kanto is much the same as long as we stay together and train, am I right?" And Brendan nodded. But before he could say anything, May suddenly shivered and collapsed. "Paralyze!" She added, and Brendan sweat dropped.

"May! You fool! Your body is all numb but you pretended everything was ok?" And May smiled oddly at Brendan. "You enjoy worrying me a lot, don't you?" And sadly, May couldn't make a move, but allowed a reddish color to adorn her cheeks. Brendan didn't need to be a doctor to know that wasn't a blush but a strong fever. "Mightyena! Look for the nearest hospital! I'm going after you." And the loyal Pokémon ran in search of a hospital, Brendan then carried May and ran after him. "Seriously… how can you force me to want to take care of you like this?" He wondered, and May only faced him as he carried her princess-style. A warm smile adorned her lips.

* * *

A couple of hours later, May was on a hospital bed enjoying a hot soup and talking by a videophone with her family. Brendan was by her side and sewing May's clothes, although they were all burned in several sections and were apparently a lost cause since he ended cutting all the burned sections and ended with only the shorts on his hands. He sweat dropped at the results and took some blue string from out of his bag and started over.

"I told you already, dad." May began, she had been bickering with her father by the phone for a while already. I'm fine, I'm going to travel around Kanto now with Professor Birch's son, the boy who challenged you seven times for your badge, remember?" May explained.

"Those were six times. The first time he interrupted the match telling me I wasn't strong enough, that's not what I would consider a defeat." Brendan defended himself. And after saying that last, he went back to his sewing. "I'm having second thoughts about this already. How could you start your journey with only one change of clothes? Women should be more caring about the way they look." Brendan scolded, and May sweated hard.

"Listen to him, May." Norman suddenly said. "If this goes on, you will never find a boyfriend." And May's face flushed. Brendan just nailed himself with the needle as a reaction to Norman's words and yelled hard once doing it so. "And also, remember I will only give my permission to the person who beats me in an all-out six for six match. So bring me the challenger before making any decision." Norman mentioned.

"Dad! Don't say such embarrassing things!" She yelled out in embarrassment and covered her face with her blankets. Brendan just smiled at her reaction but continued sewing. "But changing the subject, I'm fine and all healed. Please tell mom and Max that I'm good in health." She added cheerfully. "Besides, if anything happens to me, Brendan will take care of me." And Norman raised an eyebrow by the monitor of the telephone. "He is like half a powerful and barbaric trainer, half a boy with motherly complex!" She spoke out happily.

"Motherly complex?!" Brendan complained. "Sewing and cooking doesn't mean I have a motherly complex! I was born without a mother and with a workaholic father! Someone had to take care of the shores you know!" And May nodded and giggled while making fun of Brendan. The annoyed teen just went back to fixing May's new clothes. "I do all the work and she says I have a motherly complex. Who does she think I am? A housewife? I'm not even a girl! Everyone knows how to sew, they are just too lazy to do it the right way." Brendan complained.

"See what I mean?" She said to her father while Brendan kept bickering with himself. "Tomorrow we take the first ship toward Kanto. We will arrive to Vermilion City first. I will call you once we hit land. Take care, dad. And tell Max to stay away from my room!" She said as she saw Max at the screen about to go inside. "Bye dad!" And May then turned the monitor off and threw herself back to her bed. "I'm so beat!" She complained. "How come ever since we met again, I end up spending all my nights at a hospital bed?" She wondered.

"You tell me! It's not my fault you went too far to capture that Elekid for me! You should mind about your health! What you did was reckless and…" But May just smiled. Brendan just couldn't understand such behavior, he knew May since they were kids, she would usually start arguing with him. But instead, she kept smiling for him. There was just no way he could be annoyed at her. "I'm grateful… this Elekid will be a great addition to my team…it's true I'm selective, but you did give me a nice present." He admitted.

"Since I never gave you a present before, I wanted this one to be especial." May admitted while hiding her blush bellow her covers. "I'm glad you liked it… you are always… giving me nice presents every birthday… and I never gave you anything till today…" And she curled at her bed, but always facing Brendan. The girl was just heart-warming, everything she did was just too childish, and invited him to try to take care of her. "Tomorrow it's going to be a long day, I'm just glad I will be able to share it with Brendan!" She added.

"Yeah… I guess so." Brendan confessed, but then returned to his cheerful self. "And you will be doing it with style." And May blinked twice. "As long as I'm around, you will never have to use those horrible and out of style clothes anymore." And May felt a vein popping at her forehead. "You will only use the Brendan style! And that includes my newest design! I call it the Sapphire Version!" And he showed the finished design for May's new outfit, a sapphire blue version of her usual clothing, she giggled when looking at it. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's beautiful!" She said while touching the clothes. "And it feels so soft! You got some unique skills!" And Brendan nodded proudly, May just giggled. "Do that again!" And he blinked twice. "Aw, come on, you know what I mean. Do what you do when you start being all, 'beautiful' and all that!" She made fun of him.

"Are you making fun of me?! When Master Wallace trained me, he showed me the real meaning of beauty and grace! Even in battle, having dynamic moves and perfecting a performance can win battles. When you place your heart into…" And May began giggling hard, interrupting Brendan. "Well, excuse me! I'm speaking here!" He complained, but May just kept on giggling. She then laughed out loud being unable to hold her laughter. "You just don't know how to appreciate the beauty of my words." Brendan continued.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She said while cleaning the tears away from her face. "But please, just look at yourself! Someone as powerful and proud as yourself acting so girly like!" And Brendan bit his lips in annoyance and faced her with anger. May just continued cleaning the betraying tears. "Oh, come on, it is funny! And also… I don't know… intriguing I guess." And Brendan delivered a serious stare at her. May interrupted her giggling, but never erased the smile from her face. "I like this side of you as well… it's intriguing, fascinating, and caring." And Brendan gulped and blushed. "Brendan, you are so funny! When I'm around you I can't stop smiling!" She added proudly, and the boy quickly faced away, hiding his blush.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say, May." He added out of arrogance. "Now finish your soup. It is all cold now, I told you to eat it while it was hot." And May held her laughter. Brendan once again faced her with annoyance. "Stop that! And drink your medicines! The nurse said you should take them every 5 hours until you recover! It's being five hours ten minutes!"

"Stop it! My stomach hurts!" She laughed out loud while making fun of Brendan's motherly side once again. "I can't help myself, you are even worse than Brock! I'm gonna die of laughter!" And Brendan had enough. He stood up and began tickling May, forcing her to laugh even louder. "Wait! Stop it! It hurts to laugh, it hurts to laugh! Nurse! I need help here, he is going to kill me! Nurse!" And the tickling continued, with both of them smiling none stopping.

"Weirdo!" Brendan added once May was too tired to keep on laughing. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we leave for Vermillion City. The faster I finish my job there, the faster we start training for contests." And May nodded happily while still cleaning the betraying joy-filled tears. She then pulled Brendan close to her and gave him a soft kiss at his cheek, forcing him to blush madly. She then quickly curled inside of her covers and pretended to be asleep, leaving behind a surprised looking Brendan.

* * *

**Well, that's all for today. I really don't have a post summary reply for these chapters since I wrote this like 4 years ago. But well, returning to the subject at hand, all I can say is Brendan will behave as a mixture of Ruby and Sapphire from the manga in favor of respecting cannon and Brendan's true abilities since the creators of Pokémon keep on using him in cameos, which means he truly is like their spiritual replacement to Ash, hahaha. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time.**


	3. Vermillion City and the Hunter From Time

**Hi again. Not many reviews but heck, I'm still going to continue this anyway as long as I'm suffering of Pokémon fever. I still haven't beaten X and Y by the way, hahaha, I like taking my time to capture all I can find, and oh, I found three shiny Pokémon legaly! Not that I care, shinies are awful, horrible color, and you never get the right nature, you are stuck with what you got. Oh but they are great for trades, I got my Thick Fat Mamoswine!**

**Ok… I got carried away. Returning to the subject at hand, the important stuff is that as long as I am obsessed with Pókemon, and not in Saint Seiya as it is natural on me, you will see me here weekly, so, let's hope I don't beat the game too soon, lol. Now to reply to the reviews:**

**Guest (1): Ok, this may be a little confusing, my advice, when leaving anonymous reviews leave a nickname so you know I replied to you. This reply is for chapter two, the one of you who spoke about vocuvala… vocubola… vocabulary, jeez! Ok I have bad grammar. Sorry if I have some mistakes, don't forget English isn't my native language, I will re-read this and try to edit it to fit. The part that I couldn't find anywhere was the Pokémon naming. Really? I re-read it sometimes and could find none. If you tell me which ones, however, I can replace them. Thanks for your continuous support from the shadows then.**

**Guest (2): Ok, this one is for the dude or dudette who was the last anonymous review. If I'm not mistaken, he or she reviewed yesterday while I was playing Grand Theft Auto, my Blackberry made the usual Mario Bros coin sound so loudly I was jumping between buildings and my character fell down once I was startled and died after falling on top of a distracted pedestrian T_T, I had to do the mission all over. Ok, once again I got carried away. Good to know you are hocked, and as long as you are, I will keep the weekly updates. But if you startle me and kill me again in my videogames (evil stare), I will just curse silently and do it all over again T_T, I mean, it's not like it was your fault, it is me who is too fond of reviews that got his fanfiction account connected to my phone so I know when I'm reviewed. So, keep on sending reviews, Franklin of Grand Theft Auto doesn't mind dying, hahahahaha, now jump from the top of that building and into that limousine, Franklin Clinton (the author is obsessed with grand Theft Auto too!)**

**Ok, having said all this, I will try to improve my faults, and if anyone wants a Shiny: Leidiba or Shiny Pachirisu, I had a Shiny Bunnelby too but I traded that monstrosity for a Piloswine with Thick Fat, (I love my Mammoswine!), I'm willing to trade! I hate shinies! Well, not all of them, but nature is shiny's enemies.**

* * *

**Illex Forest.**

"We are lost again!" Once again, another dream invaded May's mind. She was already getting used to having those dreams and hearing the sound of the bells each time her dream-self tried to call the name of her companion. But there was no denying it, the May in her dreams was happy, she could tell as she looked at herself holding his hand and allowing him to drive her around the mist filled forest. "My clothes are getting all dirty. You just don't care about it, don't you?" The young May complained.

"Stop being such a girl. You knew you were going to dirty your clothes when you followed me inside Ilex Forest." The boy added, and May, the real one who had now taken form in her own dream, widened her eyes as she heard the name of the sacred forest of the Johto Region. She then followed the two kids around the forest and waited for more revelations. She saw the boy holding onto a gold and silver Pokéball. The teen May then began complaining about a strong pain in her head, and witnessed how the Pokéball turned blurry, until it was not visible anymore. "A Pokémon from legends is said to live in this forest. I want to be the first one to capture it. And with this, there is no way it can escape. It is the ultimate Pokéball, crafted only once by a master in Pokéball crafting. That man passed away about 1,000 years ago, but my dad asked the current owner of this ball to lend him the Pokéball for an investigation. But Pokéballs are meant to be used for capturing Pokémon. The ultimate Pokéball should be used to capture the ultimate Pokémon, don't you agree?" The boy added, and the young May nodded happily, but suddenly grew worried.

"Won't your father be angry to know you stole his Pokéball from him?" The young May wondered. "I mean, it is an important item. Taking it like that is bad." The young May said while lowering her face, she disliked the bold attitude of her friend. The boy just cleaned his glasses and looked all around the place for the sacred shire. "Meany, you always ignore me when you know you did something wrong." Young May complained.

"I did it already. There is no turning back now." And the young May nodded while hugging the boy's arm hard. She even began shivering due to witnessing the shadow of a Pokémon moving around the trees. "It's the sacred Pokémon! We found it, May! Let's try and capture it!" The teen May then saw how the kid with glasses pushed her younger version aside. Someone had attacked the kids from inside of the mist with a fire based attack. "May! Stay back! Someone is there as well." The young boy ordered, and a shadow got closer to him in order to help them both.

"The Pokémon you are trying to capture belongs to me." Someone mentioned from the insides of the mist. "I am thankful to you two though. I wouldn't have been able to return to this part of the forest if it weren't for your pure hearts guiding me here. Since mine is no longer pure and I needed a guide." The older May then stared at the figure coming out of the mist. The man in front of the kids had long and white hair, and his eyes were of different colors. His right eye was red as a ruby, and the left one was sapphire blue. Teen May also saw how his skin was tattooed in many sections by black lines forming strange symbols around his arms and face. The man then faced her direction, and she flinched. Her dream, her memory, it had all turned into a nightmare. "I remember you!" The man added, and darkness was unleashed around him.

"What's going on here?!" She yelled scared. Her dream world disappeared, the forest and her younger self were gone as well as the kid. Everything turned into darkness. May was left floating around the darkness of her mind and with only the strange man in black cloak staring directly at her. "Who are you? How did you enter my dream?" May asked.

"The joy of finding a long lost lover. It is unbearable." The man began, and May gulped hard and backed off. But there was nowhere to run. "To see you again, after so long, my beautiful princess!" The man approached to her. May was awfully scared. She could no longer make a move. "Is this perhaps a joke? Transporting you back in time wasn't smart. He should have known better. I who control time can't be trapped by time itself. I have traveled for so long, following him everywhere he goes. And what he does next? He brings you here? To me? May, you have no idea of how much joy my heart feels at this very moment. It brings back many glorious memories." And the man reached her, and stroke her cheek gently. May was so scared she couldn't deny his approaches. "I wonder which May you are? From what moment of my past? I would love to find it out, but that would surely interfere with my birth. After all, I'm not completely safe from time quiet yet." The man then faced a different direction. He jumped away in time to avoid the attack from an unknown enemy. "Interrupting this moment? Aren't you the troublesome kind? Stupid kid, there is nothing you and your new friend can do to stop my birth." The man added, and the darkness began dissipating. The Dream world was returning.

May was confused. She looked all around the forest until she found a shiny spot. There, she saw the boy her young self always traveled with. He was badly injured, inches away from his left eye he had blood falling from his forehead. "Stay away from her! I promised I would always protect her!" The boy yelled hard. He then pointed his gold and silver Pokéball toward the white haired man. "Battle me!" The boy yelled.

"You have seen more than enough." The man interrupted the heroic boy and faced May. "If you are to take place on my birth, it is about time you return to your own time." The man said while staring at May. The girl was shaking with fear. "We will meet again, I'm certain of it, but not now, not until I destroy this kid." And May flinched at such words. "My lovely May. Once I am fully immortal and time can't reach me. I will go after you. Please wait for me until that day comes. And remember, I have always loved you. Now… go!" And he launched some strange energy against her, she then heard the sound of bells hitting every corner of her mind, until she finally woke up.

* * *

**Pokémon: Beyond the Ties of Time.**

**The Kanto Saga.**

**Chapter Three: Vermillion City and the Hunter From Time.**

* * *

"Kyaaaaa!" May yelled out upon waking up, and once she did many things happened. Not only did she hear the yells from Brendan from the other side of the room. But also saw, in front of her face, a strange green colored creature very close to her face. It suddenly transformed into a bright golden light and flew away toward Brendan's belt and inside of his strange Pokéball. May was so scared as to start comprehending what was going on, she just stared at the Pokéball blankly, thinking all that had happened was part of her dream. She then felt her body being shaken from time to time and then saw the couple of chocolate eyes staring at her own.

"May! Wake up! What happened? Are you all right?" The girl finally reacted, launching herself toward Brendan and hugging him hard. Then she began sobbing at his clothes. "May, you are scaring me. What's going on?" Brendan took his odd Pokéball out and stared at it with rage, he then threw it away and toward the other side of the room in annoyance. His Mightyena however, picked it up and hid it down the bed. "May, everything is fine now, it was only a nightmare. I'm here, everything is fine." He hugged her back, and May's sobbing suddenly ended, and she stared at Brendan with teary eyes.

"I had a horrible dream." She began. "There was this man with white hair and odd eyes calling me his lovely May. He said many things I couldn't understand, about time and his birth! About a legendary Pokémon and me being his lover!" Brendan was unable to understand a thing, he at first thought May's dreams had something to do with his odd Pokéball. But he now thought different, thinking everything was a nightmare. "What's going on Brendan? I don't understand a thing!" She sobbed once again.

"Mightyena, give me my Pokéball." And Mightyena flinched when hearing that last. But it obeyed. Brendan then pointed the Pokéball at her face. "I hate doing this, I really hate it. But if I don't do it, your mind will collapse and lead you to insanity." And May's eyes widened when seeing the Pokéball. "You, I promised to help you, but you must help me as well. Look into her mind and erase the dream. Do it before her mind can't take it anymore." And the Pokéball began shining. It entered May's mind and erased many things, but not the memory about the man, only the memory of what happened after she woke up. Upon doing it so, May fell asleep once again. "Thank you… I first thought you were messing with her mind again. But causing her this much pain could never be your fault, can you tell me what happened?" Brendan asked. But the Pokéball's light wore off, and Brendan took a deep breath. "She is a very valuable person to me. I hate doing what I did, erasing her dreams like this is just inhuman. But whatever forced her to act like this was breaking her mind. I had to do it… May… this Pokémon wants you to stay close to me… but every moment that goes I just end up hurting you…" Brendan continued. "Until I know his motives, please be strong…" He begged while rubbing her cheek.

**Vermillion City. Kanto.**

"Brendan! Hurry up! Look! It's Vermillion City! Isn't it beautiful?!" Hours later, when May woke up and her mind was more relaxed after having some normal dreams, she found herself unable to think about her past dream as nothing more than a bad dream. a nightmare caused by her strong fever the day before. Now, more glad to be awake and safe from that nightmare, May couldn't help but be back to be her cheerful and happy self. She ran from a side of the ship to the other one enjoying the view and smiling none stopping. "Brendan! Hurry! I'm hungry and want to try Kanto food once again!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming! Different to you, I didn't get as much sleep as I had wanted." And May blinked twice at his words. She then noticed Brendan was yawning all the time, he was so tired she could see some bangs of black hair coming out of his hat since he hadn't fixed it since he woke up. Once he noticed her stare though, he fixed his hair inside once again. "You look nice in that outfit." He added, and May smiled and blushed. But due to her evident crush in Brendan, she tried to impress him by spinning around while doing dance like movements and modeling Brendan's creation. "Nice moves, very attractive." Brendan teased, and that only embarrassed May even when she was the one flirting this time.

"Eh? Thanks!" She said while blushing. "Anyway, I'm hungry, let's leave this ship already. I want to try some tropical dishes before we go looking for the person you were told to challenge!" She pushed Brendan down the ship and toward the streets of the city by the sea. Brendan, despite being annoyed by May's pushy personality, had to admit moving on was better than thinking about the events that took place that same morning, and began concentrating in his now growling stomach. "See? You are hungry as well! Let's hit the nearest restaurant!"

"I heard you the first time, stop being so pushy!" Brendan complained. "I heard there is a nice restaurant next to Vermillion's Gym. Since this is a fishing town, there are many delicious dishes from the sea, but let's not get too distracted. Remember I have a mission to fulfill!" And May nodded. Brendan then began running away. "Last arriving to the restaurant pays the bill!"

"Ah? Not fair! You got a head start!" She yelled hard. "Besides! I am a pretty and helpless girl! You should be paying!" And then she ran after him, but was amazed when she saw how he speeded up and left her behind. She then noticed the odd shoes Brendan was wearing and she yelled in annoyance. "Cheater! You are using Devon Corporation Running Shoes! They have turbines to help you run faster! Brendan, come back here! I'm not paying the bill!" May yelled while rushing after Brendan. From on top of the ship, a cloaked man stared at the couple. He was the same person May saw on her dreams, the person she thought was part of a nightmare.

"Ah, I remember this place." He told to himself as he faced the sea. "These were peaceful times, before the end of the world came. So, Brendan is traveling with May now? That boy, he knows nothing about what is going to happen and about the power he holds inside of that Pokéball." The man continued, and saw the couple disappearing at the distance. "Well then, I have feed up my curiosity. It is about time I return to the end of time. I can't interfere on this time line, or else my birth will be interrupted." But before leaving, the man stopped his march. "Oh yeah, today is that day. May's first encounter with the legendary birds. That lucky girl, what happened to her in the future was awful, but… I can still save her. I just need to control time on its totality. Then… May, I will be able to save you…" And upon saying that last, the man disappeared in a portal he opened with his powers.

* * *

"Delicious!" Yelled May happily while eating some pasta with fried seaweeds around it. She and Brendan were having lunch at a restaurant by the beach. "I can't believe seaweeds taste so delicious!" She said while taking another bite of her food. "Brendan, cheer up, we are tasting dishes we have never tasted before, why are you so silent?" She wondered.

"It's noting. I'm just not hungry at all." But May couldn't believe it. Brendan was always trying new food. Her own mania against food was because of him. "Lieutenant Surge… he is my first target, an electric type user, also the Gym Leader of Vermillion City. I wonder why would my new master want me to fight him? I wasn't at all planning on taking the Pokémon League Challenge… not here at Kanto anyway." Brendan mentioned.

"Electric user you say? It is the perfect opportunity for you to use Elekid!" May added cheerfully. "Come on, Brendan. You love Pokémon battles. And if it was an order from your new master, there must be a good reason for it." And Brendan then nodded gently. May just smiled for him. "Then, let's look for this Lieutenant Surge! He can't be that strong! I'm sure even I can beat him in battle! See, if I'm this confident there is no way you can lose!" She added cheerfully.

"So, you think you can defeat Lt. Surge in a Pokémon battle?" May heard a strong voice mention, and she flinched, and turned around, and then noticed a tall and strong man with blond and spiky hair staring at her with an evil smile drawn on his face. "You have some guts, for being a girl. I'm sure Lt. Surge would be impressed by your courage." The man continued, and May gulped hard. "But before battling Surge himself, you need to defeat his men. Do you think you are up to the challenge?" And May backed off. Brendan just stood up and went to her side. Mightyena also came from bellow the table and roared at the man and his companions.

"I don't know who you are, but if you know where Lt. Surge is, we will like to know." Brendan defied. "We have traveled a long way searching for him and wish to have a battle with him." The man and his companions then began laughing out loud. Brendan and May just exchanged looks. "If you won't help us, we will be leaving then." Brendan informed and turned around.

"Wait up, kiddo! I haven't said I don't know where the Lieutenant is." The man continued. "The whole contrary, I know him far too well." And the man laughed once again, so did his two companions. "The Gym is just next to this restaurant, but as you have noticed already, the Gym Leader isn't there. He now spends most of his free time at the Power Plant at the outsides of the city, where it is said he found a rare Pokémon he currently wishes to capture." And that won Brendan's attention. "So, every trainer aiming for the badge must meet him there. The Gym will remain closed until he captures the legendary Pokémon, Zapdos." And Brendan widened his eyes.

"Zapdos?" May began, Brendan stared at her. "Everyone knows about the legend of the three legendary Pokémon, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres. But little are those who have seen them, much less capture them. But I thought Zapdos was only found at Thunder Island, close to the Whirlpool Islands and even closer to Johto seas." The man stared at the girl with interest, Brendan did the same. "A friend of mine, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, encountered the 3 legendary birds once. He told me about it during our travels." She informed.

"Wait, wait wait." The man mentioned. "Did you just say Ash Ketchum? A weakling trainer, with odd strategies, burned hair because of the static of his all-time friend, Pikachu?" And May nodded. The man just burst into laughter. "You are a friend of him? Then you must be more than just a cute little girl." And May blushed, and Brendan sort of felt annoyed by that last. "Then, that means I, Lieutenant Surge, have no choice but accept your challenge! Any friend of Ash Ketchum is also my friend!" And Brendan stared at May with a puzzled look, May just smiled and took his hand, pulling him up to follow her and Lt. Surge as he and his partners made it out of the restaurant and toward a military styled transport. "I have waited for a challenge for a long time. Ever since I fought that little vermin 3 years ago, I have had no real challenge. I have been defeated, and have won countless times, but no one like Ash. I surely miss that freak!" May nodded and smiled while accepting Surge's invitation for transportation, they then left toward the Power Plant. "How is that little Rattatash doing anyway? I heard he traveled to faraway lands." Lieutenant Surge wondered.

"I met him at the Hoenn region! But we went separate ways once he decided to travel to Sinnoh. Brendan here and I are both from Hoenn!" The talk between May and Surge continued, they both had to yell to communicate because of the strong wind. During the distraction, Brendan pressed a code on his Pokéwatch. Sending a signal to his new master.

**Goldenrod City. Johto.**

Far from Kanto, and back at the Johto region, there is a secret building in the middle of the city, which is secretly known by a minority of selected ones as Team Rocket's headquarters at the Johto region. Inside of a basement of the facilities, Brendan's hand watch signal was intercepted, and when a signal was displayed at the world's map by the screen, Giovanni smiled at it.

"Mr. Giovanni, the trainer Brendan has found his objective." One of his scientists mentioned while displaying the information on the giant screen. "The traitor, Lieutenant Surge, now travels with him toward the Power Plant at the outsides of Vermillion City, the same place where Zapdos was last seen." The scientist mentioned.

"Excellent! I knew giving that trainer this mission would give results." Giovanni mentioned, an evil smile drawn on his face. "I want all operatives of Vermillion City in alert. But don't ask them to make a move quiet yet, not until both, Zapdos and Surge, are weakened by our little insider." Giovanni gave out his orders, and then began rubbing his Persian's fur. He then stared at the main computer of the room, the pictures and profiles of Surge and other 2 gym leaders were displayed. "Surge, Koga and Blaine. All are former members of Team Rocket. With the help of this kid, we will finally capture them. But also, I need him to capture more important trophies. Thanks to our past investigations now we have the tools." Giovanni mentioned, and took a couple of stones that shined with a mysterious energy, both were of violet colors, but one had on its insides a blue X-like symbol. The other one had a red Y-like symbol as well. "We only needed a messenger. Brendan, I look forward to your success." Giovanni added, and pressed both stones on his hands with proudness.

**Vermillion City. Kanto.**

"Here we are! The Power Plant." Lieutenant Surge added while climbing down his vehicle. "This place was abandoned long time ago. But upon the arrival of Zapdos, I asked the citizens to help in rebuilding this place. The plant will soon be operational, but until I capture that Zapdos that had been feeding of electricity here, I can't open the place for business yet." And May stared at Brendan as he nervously played with his hand watch, she then took his hand once again, helping him relax and stealing a smile from his face. "Hey! You little love birds came looking for a challenge, didn't you? Or did ya want old Surge as a chariot while you two went intimate." And both Brendan and May flinched and took their distances. "Oh, so you DO want a battle. Well I'm here and waiting. But before you face me, you must defeat my partners here." And a rocker-looking guy and a metal-lover like woman of blonde hair, walked in front of Surge and readied their Pokéballs. "Since there are two of you, let's make this a double battle, quiet popular now days!" Surge mentioned.

"You hear that, Brendan?! We hadn't being able to work together in battle yet, this is our chance!" May added cheerfully, and Brendan nodded nervously. Something was bothering him, May knew it, but she ignored it by pressing his hand softly, helping him realize she was there to help him. He smiled at the thought and nodded while taking out his Ultraball. "That's the spirit! We are ready!" And Surge laughed, while his two henchmen nodded as well and the battle began. The grunts threw their Pokéballs out, revealing a Jolteon and a Voltorb. "Fine, I made my choice!" May added and took her Pokéball out.

"Then let's finish them off, partner!" Brendan mentioned, and May nodded and threw her Pokéball, Brendan did the same, from the two their Pokémon were released, Elekid was Brendan's choice, May's one was her Bulbasaur. "I hope you don't mind, but while you slept, I taught Elekid some tricks, such as this one, use Brick Break against Jolteon!" Elekid obeyed after doing a mockery at Brendan. Since it was a new addition, it disliked his trainer, Jolteon launched several Pin Missile attacks toward Elekid, but the small but strong Pokémon endured the pain and stroke his attack against the Jolteon. "Nice job! May, your turn!" Brendan added.

"Bulbasaur, use Petal Dance!" And a storm of petals surrounded the place, burying the rolling Voltorb about to attack Elekid in a mountain of petals. "Elekid is safe! Now's the time to start charging, cover me up!" Brendan nodded and commanded his next attack. With a second Brick Break, he launched the trapped Voltorb away, Jolteon used his agility and tried to get close to Bulbasaur, but Elekid jumped in the way and used a Low Kick to bring him down. "Charged! Now get Elekid out of there!" And Brendan nodded and moved his hand giving his silent order. Elekid then ran back and behind Bulbasaur as the Pokémon unleashed a SolarBeam, recently one of May's favorite moves. "Way to go, Bulbasaur!" Jolteon and Voltorb were easily defeated, but Surge couldn't be happier about it. "He is an interesting person, isn't he?" May added while facing Surge.

"You shouldn't judge based in appearances." Brendan added while both called their Pokémon back. "Remember anyone, even you and me, can have a dark side. You should never keep your guard down." And May gave Brendan a sad stare. She couldn't believe her friend was this paranoiac. "Everyone has a secret they don't want to be known, May. I can feel Surge is no different." Brendan continued, since he knew some information about Surge thanks to his not to etic friends at Team Rocket, which Brendan didn't know he was working for.

"That was great, that was great! You guys did a good job defeating my soldiers!" Surge added with enthusiasm. "But who would have thought you would use a forbidden Pokémon for a gym leader challenge?" And Brendan pointed at himself, and Surge nodded. "You aren't in Hoenn or Jotho anymore, kids. This is Kanto, we have rules. For example, Gym Leader Battles should only take place using Pokémon authorized by the Kanto Pokémon League Association of Gym Leaders." And both Brendan and May exchanged looks. May as the daughter of a Gym Leader should have more knowledge about these rules, but sadly, she didn't. "In other words, you can't use native Pokémon from the regions outside of Kanto's borders." And Brendan stared at his Pokéballs, then he took his Pokédex out, searching for suitable Pokémon he could use, and sadly he had no Pokémon native of the Kanto region. "If, the challenging trainer doesn't own a Pokémon native from the region, the Gym Leader then is allowed to use any Pokémon he wishes to use. Even if it is a Pokémon not registered in the association's rules book. In other words, I'm free to use my whole arsenal if you still wish to battle me." Surge added with an evil smile.

"Then, what you are saying is, I can only use Pokémon that are found in the wild here at Kanto for the Pokémon League Challenge?" Brendan asked, and Surge nodded in agreement. "Unless you use any Pokémon you want… even those from a foreign region?" And Surge nodded once again. "Did you know anything of this?" Brendan wondered while facing May, who didn't know a thing. "I guess it can't be helped. It's not like I want to be a Kanto champion, but I guess accepting these special rules will open a whole new world of possibilities." And Brendan took his Cherish Ball out. "Time to deal some serious damage. Infernape!" Yelled Brendan, and Surge laughed out loud.

"Ha ha ha ha! Great! We will battle using 3 Pokémon then! And if you win, my badge will be all yours. Are you ready, punk?" And Brendan nodded. May just sat down by the stone steps of the Power Plant and enjoyed the view. "I will electrify the field with this! Go Heliolisk!" And Brendan grew worried about what he was witnessing. "What's the matter, punk? Don't tell me you have never seen this one before! Ha ha ha ha!" Surge made fun of him, and Brendan took his Pokédex out. "You are wasting your time. I told you before, these are special rules." And Surge then pointed at his reptile-looking Pokémon. "I can use whatever Pokémon I want, even if you haven't seen them before. Having said all that, I better not tell you anything, or else I'm in shockingly serious troubles, Ha ha ha!" Surge continued.

"My Pokédex can't read information of that Pokémon." Brendan added, but then he smiled. "I see then, these especial challenges are surely full of surprises! Even if I don't know the typing of that Pokémon, it's obviously electric." And surge nodded in agreement. "We got no problem with electric types at all. Infernape, Earthquake!" And the furious Pokemon nodded, and stomped the floor hard, forcing a tremendous movement of the ground. Heliolisk was hurt, but it endured the hit and growled toward Infernape. "Your Pokémon is strong, as any Pokémon of a Gym Leader should be, but Infernape got the move advantage!" And May did her best to stay in equilibrium but the shaking was of a strong magnitude, and she ended tripping with the stairs leading to the insides of the Power Plant. May then heard a furious yell coming from deep inside, such yell won her attention, and so, despite wanting to see the battle taking place, she made her way inside of the Power Plant. "Infernape! Finish him with Flare Blitz!" Brendan ordered.

"Heliolisk! Dodge and use Rain Dance!" And the fast Pokémon dodged Infernape, and began dancing weirdly, forcing the weather to change, and rain to fall, hurting Infernape with each drop that fell. "If I am to be honest, Heliolisk is in a type disadvantage since he is normal and electric." And Brendan blinked twice at that last. "But since you didn't know the typing, I had the time to use my strategy, which was forcing a Rain Dance to weaken Infernape." And the furious fire-type Pokemon faced the Heliolisk, which began making fun of Infernape and splashing around. "But Rain Dance doesn't just weaken Infernape, but makes it easier for this attack to land. Thunder!" Yelled Surge, and the tremendous attack hit Infernape directly.

May faced the battle one last time to see Infernape being hit by Heliolisk's Thunder attack, Brendan was surprised by such a move, but then saw Infernape resisting the hit, and running toward Heliolisk with his punch ready.

"You shouldn't have mentioned its weakness. Close Combat!" Brendan yelled, and Infernape got ready to punch. However, Heliolisk began shining with a blue aura. "That aura… Infernape, dodge!" Yelled Brendan, and Infernape noticed as well, but pressed the move against Heliolisk, which threw a powerful blast of water and hit Infernape at the same time the fire-type punched its face hard. "As I thought… Surf…" Brendan added, and both Infernape and Heliolisk fell. "I feel like such a beginner. Losing to a normal type. I should have known their move-pool is wider than meets the eye." And Surge laughed out loud. May wanted to stay and give Brendan moral support, but she heard movement inside of the Power Plant once again. Brendan then called his Swampert out, and so, she knew Brendan would be all right, and she made her was inside of the Power Plant in favor of investigating the strange noise.

"Normal type are weak to fighting. But Heliolisk was the only one with the moves to beat that powerful Infernape. I knew it wouldn't last long." Surge explained while calling his Heliolisk back. "I had to sacrifice one of my men to deal with all mighty Infernape, just as it is done in war!" Surge added with a smile on his face.

"Well, your luck is over." Brendan added. "Swampert is immune to electricity. And thanks to Heliolisk, it's raining. Making Swampert far more powerful than before. Think you can deal with it?" And as reply, Surge sent out his second Pokémon. It was a Magnezone. "Floating around makes him immune to Earthquake, but there are more attacks to use against him! Use Hammer Arm!" Brendan ordered.

"Magnezone! Mirror Shot!" The two attacks collided, and the explosion forced the Power Plant to shake just like it happened when Infernape used his Earthquake attack. Only this time, since May was inside of the building, she fell to the floor and stayed there during the time the shaking continued. The furious yell coming from inside of the plant was now clearer, so May took a Pokéball out and released her Blaziken.

"I don't like the sound of things right now, Blaziken." The Pokémon burned his wrist and pointed the light around the abandoned Power Plant, determined to protect May. The place was empty, but May was sure she had heard the yell of what she thought was Zapdos. However, she heard yet a different sound this time, as a man stepped out of the darkness. "What was that sound!" May yelled out of surprise. Blaziken directed the light toward the place May was pointing at, and she then backed off in fear as she saw the man from her dreams. "You again! Blaziken, use Flamethrower!" And Blaziken was confused. He never thought May would command him to attack a human without gestating. But as a loyal Pokémon, he obeyed and launched his attack.

"Please, you can't seriously be thinking such attack will harm me." The man mentioned and placed his left hand in front of Blaziken's attack. From his hand then came out a blue sphere, which absorbed Blaziken's attack, leaving behind only vapor. "Time is always in effect, there is no way to stop it. But it can be reversed. Reversing the flow of time is a power I'm looking for, there is only one Pokémon who possesses such power, but going after it right now would place my existence in danger. That's why, I can't do anything but be an observer, and witness as the road toward my birth takes place." And May backed off, Blaziken then stood in the way, defiant. "The battle outside is waking up the legendary Pokémon, Zapdos, from his slumber. But it won't awake until the last two Pokémon battle, forcing Zapdos into a rampage, and to try and feed on the trainer's electric attacks." And May blinked twice at such information. "If I'm not mistaken, Swampert and Magnezone will both fall at the same time. After all, Surge is using all his skills, battling as he had never done before. Because he knows that pushing his electric Pokémon to their limits will soon recharge the dormant Zapdos! Surge never wanted to capture him, but release him from his would be captors" The man explained.

"Who… who are you?" May wondered, and the man just smiled. "I saw you in my dreams. I thought it was a nightmare… but you are real." The man then approached May. Blaziken launched a Sky Uppercut attack, but the man moved his right hand, from it, a red orb came out, it absorbed Blaziken's attack and drained his energy. "Blaziken!" May yelled hard out of fear.

"Isn't the power of the orbs impressive? Most of the Pokémon can be controlled with these two orbs, since these orbs were the source of all life in ancient times. But why telling you this, you have seen them before, you know their power." And the man pulled both orbs out, and May's eyes widened, she had seen them before, closer than anyone else. "Blue Orb and Red Orb. You know their power, don't you? Good to know I'm not as ill minded as Team Magma or Aqua once were. I use them for major purposes, not to destroy, but create." And May gulped hard while hugging her Blaziken protectively, the man just faced the entrance. "Brendan now calls Mightyena to battle, and Surge's last Pokémon comes out, his Raichu. The battle will continue with equality of powers, but then, Mightyena will use Thunder Fang to counter Raichu's power. The magnetic force will awake Zapdos, and it will be stopped by you and your Blaziken. It will be your Blaziken's promised victory, congratulations." And the man walked away, leaving behind a worried sick May who knew the power of the orbs wasn't meant to be controlled by a humans.

"Why are you telling me this? Why do you have the orbs? How do you know all this?" May asked out of fear. The man just kneeled in front of Blaziken, placed the Red Orb at Blaziken's chest, recovering its powers, and forcing it to use his flames to push the man away. "Blaziken, stop!" May stood up. Now her face reflected determination instead of fear. "Who are you? Why are you following me?" She demanded answers.

"I am the person you love the most. And you are the person I love the most." And May flinched at such revelation. "My beautiful May, soon all your questions will be answered, and your pain will disappear. I just have to wait for the day of my birth, and when it comes, I will take you from this reality and toward our promised world. One in which you, and I, will be able to be together for eternity." The man then rubbed May's cheeks, Blaziken once again stood in the way before the man could do anything to her. "Oh, and guess what. The time has come, the attacks will now collide, you better run now or you won't witness it." May was confused, but she ran out of the Power Plant anyway. Outside, she saw Raichu and Mightyena. Raichu was using Thunderbolt, Mightyena used Thunder Fang to counter it, and while May was distracted, the man disappeared.

"Great job, Mightyena! Now redirect the attack!" Mightyena obeyed, moving its head fast and allowing the Thunderbolt to hit an antenna of the power plant. "Finish him! Use Crunch!" Brendan ordered, and Mightyena moved fast, with its fangs shining with a violet color, it then transformed into a violet Mightyena due to the power of its darkness, and chomped Raichus tail, then hurling it, and slamming it at the floor hard, forcing it to faint. "Victory is mine!" Brendan added with proudness, and then faced at May's direction. The girl was looking all around the place for Zapdos, Brendan noticed May worried state, and wondered what was going on. He then heard the furious yell and saw how the whole Power Plant filled itself with an electricity field, which surrounded the whole building. "What's going on?!" Brendan asked, and the static messed with his fur hat, and he pressed it down before it could float away. "There is too much static in the air! What did you do, Surge?" And the Lieutenant just smiled.

"The electricity feeding the antenna had generated a magnetic field! Only a great battle can force an electric Pokémon to generate enough electricity to match the one of Zapdos, good job kid!" Surge explained, and Brendan raised an eyebrow. "I have had many battles, but none that forced my Pokémon to unleash this much energy! Zapdos is finally waking up!" Brendan was surprised to hear that last. May just ran toward Brendan and then turned to see the Power Plant. "We found Zapdos unconscious at the Power Plant long time ago! Apparently, he was injured in a fight with a fairly strong Pokémon." And the yell from the legendary Pokémon followed Surge's words. "We needed to recharge his energies, so we trapped him inside the plant and connected him to an antenna. We had many battles here, but none generated enough energy until today! It was the only way to charge Zapdos' batteries. If I had used other mediums the media would have found out and revealed Zapdos was here and many trainers would have tried to capture him!" And Surge's strong laughter followed. "Now Zapdos is safe."

"But why recharging Zapdos? I thought you wanted to capture him!" Brendan complained, he was totally confused. "And what could have hurt Zapdos so badly enough to deplete his energy?!" And Surge smiled and then faced the Power Plant. From inside of it, Zapdos came out. Many wires that were connected to him were burned by the electricity. The charge Zapdos possessed now had enough heat as to melt the wires. "Surge! What have you done?!" Brendan yelled and pushed May to his back.

"Mark my words, kiddo, no one should ever capture a legendary." And Brendan blinked twice at that last. "It could affect the world in more ways than you can even start to comprehend." And the Lieutenant faced Brenda with a huge smile. "I know they sent you to capture me! I detected the signal when you were at my car!" And Brendan was surprised to hear that, May didn't understand a thing, and didn't mind about it either. She was more concerned about Zapdos approaching, and at the magnetic field it was generating. "I worked once for them, long time ago. But I betrayed them once I found what I wanted. My intention was never to capture Zapdos, I wanted to release him from his captors and hid him here once I did!" And Brendan observed the majestic Pokémon, and then at Surge with curiosity. "Listen kid, forget about everything you think you know. Team Rocket, stay away from them, they are after Zapdos, and now that it is charged, they won't capture him!" Zapdos then attacked Surge. The Lieutenant pushed Brendan away and then jumped away from the attack. "What are you doing?! Fly away now that you can! Return to Thunder Island and tell your friends you were attacked by that monster!" Surge ordered.

"He is a wild Pokémon! We are all his enemies!" Brendan said while taking May's hand since the magnetic field Zapdos had generated forced them all to float. "Mightyena!" He commanded, but the Pokémon was too tired as to obey any order. "All my Pokémon are tired!" Brendan complained, and this time May understood what she had to do.

"But Blaziken can still fight!" And Blaziken slammed its talons at the ground, preventing itself from floating. "I just know he can defeat Zapdos! I can't explain how I know it but I just know it, you have to trust me! I only need Mightyena to help me distract it so Blaziken can land a direct hit!" May explained, and Brendan blinked twice at her determination.

"You heard her, Mightyena! Use Incinerate!" And Mightyena opened its jaw, launching from inside a fire attack May didn't know Mightyena capable of using. But it wasn't the time to admire Mightyena's odd move-pool. Zapdos was stroke by the fire and lost its concentration, it then released everyone from the magnetic field. "Now, keep Zapdos attention away from Blaziken, use Crunch!" And the Pokémon obeyed, it ran toward Zapdos, unleashing its dark energy, and but Zapdos' wing. The damage was minimal, but Zapdos' attention was now centered in Mightyena. "Do it, May!" Brendan continued. "Now get ready to use Counter!" And Mightyena got ready, resisted Zapdo's Thunderbolt, and launched a massive attack to the flying type, who wasn't hurt much, but it was everything Mightyena could do.

"Blaziken! Sky Upper cut!" May ordered, and Blaziken ran toward Zapdos and hit the flying enemy. The impact was effective, but not enough to defeat Zapdos. "Now! Use Overheat at the grass around the Power Plant!" And Blaziken obeyed. The Power Plant then was surrounded by flames. Zapdos saw the fire and flew away scared. "You did it Blaziken!" May added with happiness,

"Don't get distracted, we aren't safe from danger yet!" Surge spoke out while pointing at the fire. "Zapdos was scared away, but now we must cut the fire!" Brendan nodded, he sent out Swampert once again, May released her Squirtle, both then used their water attacks to cut the fire. Surge then ran toward Brendan, taking him from the arm and placing an object on his hand before Brendan could even complain. "Take this with you, kiddo! You deserve it!" And Brendan saw a badge now resting on his hand. "I enjoyed the battle, but I can't stay here now. My minions ran away when Zapdos woke up, now I'm alone and with no usable Pokémon. I am an easy target, take care, and stay away from Team Rocket! We will surely meet again!"

"Wait! Surge! I'm not finished with you yet!" Brendan wanted to go after him, but he had to help May with the fire. Both continued commanding their Pokémon until the fire was finally gone. They were both tired, but unharmed. "That Surge! He left us! And he calls himself a Gym Leader?!" And Brendan stared at the badge Surge had presented him with, despite holding and impressive victory against Surge, Brendan no longer thought the badge had any value. He still hid it inside of his pocket though. "May. Are you well? Are you unharmed?" He wondered.

"Eh? I'm ok, really, thanks for worrying." Spoke May out with a distracted tone in her voice. She was thinking about everything that took place inside of the Power Plant. The mystery man claiming to be her lover and in the possession of the two orbs she remembered unleashing ancient powers from Groundon and Kyogre. Then the apparition of Zapdos, everything was just too much for her to understand. "There was someone inside the Power Plant… a person I saw in my dreams… what does it means…?" She asked herself.

"A person from your dreams?" May nodded, Brendan scratched the back of his head in confusion. "Is he a bad person?" May never replied, Brendan just placed his hand by her shoulder, encouraging her to explain the situation to him. "Is it something I can know?" And May faced Brendan for a moment, and then a warm smile appeared on her lips.

"I would never keep a secret from you." And Brendan felt a knot at his throat. May just continued. "A man with long white hair, and some strange tattoos on his arms and face appeared on my dreams recently." She explained, and Brendan nodded. "One of his eyes is red, the other one is blue, he has some strange powers, fearful ones… he says he is the master of time, and says I'm the person he loves the most." May mentioned.

"Strange… I recall meeting someone like him before…" And May faced Brendan with curiosity. "I just, don't seem to remember it at all… who could this person be…?" And May had no idea of what to reply, Brendan just found it best to change the subject. "Hey, your battle with Zapdos was incredible! It is surely something to be proud of, you managed to defeat Zapdos!" And May smiled. She was still worried about everything that was going on, but being around Brendan was enough to calm her down. "So, lady I defeated Zapdos but like contests more than battles, how about we hit the closest restaurant, have something to eat, and then I give you and your Pokémon a beauty treatment?" He flirted, and May totally forgot about the man inside of the Power Plant and just blushed at him. But then she directed an evil stare at him.

"Oh! Are you saying I'm not beautiful enough as I am?" she added in a loud tone, and Brendan flinched. May just gave him a teasing smile. "How rude! You are hurting my feelings! Only for that, you will pay all I eat tonight!" She was toying around, she wasn't at all annoyed. But Brendan fell for her act.

"Hey! That's not what I meant!" Brendan added out of fear. "You are beautiful!" He mentioned out of the sudden. May then blushed, Brendan did the same. In her little game, May had forced a confession out of Brendan. "I… I mean… well… how to say this…?" And May lowered her face in embarrassment. "Fine! I will pay everything." And May smiled. Her smile froze Brendan's heart. "Anyway! Let's go! It's late already, and I need to clean my newest badge!" He said while blushing madly and walking at an accelerated rhythm.

"Hey… Mightyena…" May began while Brendan walked away. "You are a smart Pokémon, are you not?" And the Pokémon nodded in agreement. "If I asked you something… would you be able to reply?" And Mightyena faced May, a huge blush was drawn on her face. "Do you think that… perhaps… Brendan… does he maybe feels something for me too…?" And Mightyena blinked twice, and then rubbed its own face against May's leg. "I wish I could understand you as I know you understand me." And May kneeled and rubbed Mightyena's fur. "But Mightyena… I remember…" And Mightyena faced May with interest. "I have a strange dream. Of Max and Brendan discussing." And the memories that were whipped out, returned to haunt May's mind, and a tear rolled down her cheeks. "Maybe it is a dream… I'm not sure…" And May cleaned the tears away. "there, Brendan said we were nothing but childhood friends." And May stood up, and hugged her own arms out of sadness. "Having these feelings is just wrong… if I know he can't return them… then why am I still trying?" And Mightyena pushed her from behind, forcing her to star walking toward Brendan, waiting for her a few meters by the road, and with a concerned look drawn on his face. "Mightyena?" and the Pokémon pushed once again. "Mightyena… you really are smart, are you not?" And May smiled, and rubbed its fur once again. "I'm so going to make him fall in love with me!" She confessed to Mightyena, and then ran toward Brendan. "You!" She pointed, and Brendan flinched. "A lady can't be denied of what she truly wants with her heart. I won't let you escape!" And Brendan delivered an odd stare to her. "You are going to pay for anything I want to eat for calling me ugly!" She added with a teasing smile.

"I didn't call you…" And he blushed. "Eh… this is uncomfortable… normally I'm the one flirting…" Brendan spoke to himself, but quickly recovered. "You know, eating that much will force you to gain weight!" And May stomped on his feet, Brendan complained by the pain but did his best to ignore it and continue walking. "Ok, it was a joke, it was a joke. Anything you want will do!" And she giggled, Brendan just blushed, and Mightyena rolled his eyes while following them both toward the city. "What did you do?" Brendan asked, and Mightyena just growled as if laughing at Brendan. "Seriously… you can be annoying some time." And Brendan continued following May.

* * *

Lt. Surge ran around the city faster than ever in his life. Some shadowed persons stood in his way, and he punched everyone away in annoyance. Many more came and the result was mostly the same. He continued running around the city, and then saw Zapdos flying high and being chased by a sphere of blue energy around the height of a human. "No! I won't let you capture Zapdos! Raichu, go!" Surge yelled, and launched the weak Raichu out of its Pokéball. "Use Thunderbolt against that sphere!" And Raichu obeyed. But the battle with Brendan had depleted its energy. "No, Raichu! We worked so hard! Zapdos can't be trapped! The equilibrium of nature itself depends on his freedom!"

"Zapdos is just a Pokémon." Someone mentioned, while Surge saw Zapdos being beaten up by the sphere launching blue energy beams toward it. "Capturing Zapdos, or any other Pokémon, is much the same." The shadowed figure then stood defiant on Surge's way. It was a girl wearing one white uniform with a red colored 'R' on it. "Surge, no one will come to your aid now. Even if you weren't weakened, I am the one you are facing. Give up now, you have no chance on winning." The girl mentioned.

"I always wondered why they never sent you after me in the first place." Surge mentioned, and then saw the strange Pokémon attacking Zapdos. "But now I think I know. You wanted me to recharge Zapdos and reveal its location. You can't read strong minds, and until Zapdos appeared, you could only stay in the shadows." And the girl smiled. She then made it out of the shadows and revealed her face was covered with a mechanical helmet. "They are brainwashing you, wake up already. You are the only one who can control that powerful psychic Pokémon. Which means you have enough power to release yourself from your captor's power!" Surge then faced the sky once again. Zapdos was tackled down by the strong light and ended crashing against Surge's gym. "Zapdos!" He yelled.

"Maybe you haven't realized it yet." The girl added. "I have no interest in freeing myself from my supposed captor." And she showed one of the violet stones she possessed to Surge. It shined with a 'Y-like' Symbol on her hand. "Now I control the strongest Pokémon ever heard of. Its power alone is enough to defeat an army of Pokémon. However, if my master wants to complete the collection, then it will be done." From inside of the helmet, a couple of shining blue eyes were visible. Surge was then surrounded by psychic energy. "You will forever regret the day you betrayed Team Rocket, Surge. You will soon become one of Giovanni's mindless slaves, just as the other traitors will." And Surge tried to release himself, but was unable to. "Now, be a good prisoner, and give me your badge." The girl ordered.

"Sorry Sabrina, I already gave the badge away to the strongest trainer I could find." And Sabrina, the Gym Leader of Saffron City, just smiled. Surge found himself puzzled at such smile. "What's so funny, witch? Without the eight badges, Giovanni's plans won't take place. How much longer you think you will be able to control that Pokémon with only two badges in your power? If the badges aren't earned legally, the Gym Leader's association will suspect. Giovanni can't touch the other leaders!" Surge explained.

"And you can't touch him either." Sabrina explained. "You can't tell the police about our plans. After all, you are a former member of Team Rocket yourself. Speaking out would be dangerous for you." And Surge bit his lips hard. "As for your minions, they are all former members too. There is no one you can speak to. You don't know who may be part of our team, there is no one you can trust, not even that kid." And Surge grew worried. "That kid, he is unaware of it, but he is working for us. And you know it is only matter of time before he arrives to my gym." And Surge bit his lips in annoyance. Sabrina just threw a black colored Pokéball toward the unconscious Zapdos, who fell down from the sky after the brutal attack of an humanoid and small Pokémon surrounded by a pink sphere of light. "Poor surge, you lost your badge, and you lost your Pokémon. I almost feel sorry for you." And Sabrina released him. She then walked away, disappearing in the shadows, with Zapdos now trapped inside of the dark Pokéball, and the humanoid Pokémon, flying away and disappearing at high speed.

"That was… it… it can't be…" Surge added out of surprise after what he just saw. "Not only did that damn old man managed to capture him again. But he made it even more powerful. Project-Y. What an immense power it possesses." Surge added out of concern. But suddenly, he smiled. "Get stronger, Kiddo." Surge finished, and began walking away. "Grow strong enough to beat Mega Evolution.

* * *

**Ok now it's a good time to stop. For those who have read the first version of this story by the name of "Shattered Memories", you may notice the major change, for those who haven't, don't read Shattered Memories and spoil the fun, be patient please. Having said all that, see ya next Friday while I ESCAPE THE POLICE IN GRAND THEFT AUTO V! I'm innocent I'm telling you! That old lady wanted to be robbed! Ow Taurus poop! They are chasing me with Helicopters, that's cheating!**


	4. Cerulean City and the GS Ball Secret

**A day late but oh well, here I am. I'm enjoying the editing of this story quiet a lot. There aren't many changes at the moment thought, only grammar, some attacks changes and Mightyena. Other than that it is mostly the same.**

**Nothing much is left to say but start review-replying, so here it goes:**

**Swampert: Yep, it is you. Nice name by the way. Oh! So those names where the wrong ones. Seriously? I always, and I mean ALWAYS thought the name was Mitolic, now you tell me it is Milotic? Milotic makes no freaking sense but heck, it's the name. I will edit the past chapter later to add the corrected names, as for Sharpedo, well, not too much of a difference but I will be more careful. As for your theory, it may be kinda obvious, hahaha, but no words from my part just yet, maybe for some it isn't. Thanks for your continuous support, and hope to keep on reading your reviews.**

**happy: Is your name Happy like in Happy the Hare from Starfox? Hahaha, just kidding. Glad to know you like the story, and worry not, I will keep on writing.**

* * *

"Have you waited for me for long? I can now see that Celebi is no longer messing around with your dreams anymore." Once again, strange dreams haunted May during her sleep. Only this time it wasn't a surprise anymore. "Sending you back in time to meet me was perhaps his biggest mistake." The man always messing with her mind was there, and May took form inside of the eternal darkness that now was her dream world once she heard his voice. She was sad, and depressed, and was hugging her legs close to her chest while burying her face inside of her arms. "I see no dreams. I see no memories. I see only you and this darkness." The man mentioned while sitting down next to May.

"Since my last dream where you hurt that boy from my past, I haven't been able to dream at all." May confessed, and the man nodded in agreement. "Everything is darkness. I don't know what is going on but it scares me!" She sobbed. The man then placed his arm around her waist. May noticed, but she didn't care. Inside of her dream world there was nothing she could do anyway. And the man never tried to hurt her. As long as he didn't take advantage of his powers against her, she would tolerate him. "Why are you here?" May added with coldness.

"Because I want to be here." And May finally faced the man. He was depressed, she could see it in his eyes despite the man only having a couple of floating pupils instead of complete eyes. "You were everything to me. But you had to be closer to him than you were to me. The day he hurt you, I swore to myself I was going to do everything in my power to bring you back to me." May couldn't understand his words. The man just placed his skinny and white hand at his own forehead in preoccupation. "At first I could only control earth and ocean. Then I took possession of time itself. But my control over it was incomplete, traveling through time isn't the same as controlling time. I traveled though many lands, I gained more powers, like the ability to control dreams and nightmares." He explained, and a dark shadow appeared at his back. It was hard to see due to the darkness of her dream. But May knew it was there somehow. "But one ability eludes me. One I can't find. If I am to save you I need this power, the power to reverse time."

"What is going to happen to me?" May wondered. The man just lowered his face. May didn't need to be a genius to know why he was depressed. "I don't understand. I don't even know you. I can tell you know me, but I just don't know you." May continued. "Who are you? Why do you care for me so much?" She asked while taking the man's arm off her waist and standing up. "You care for me. You aren't a bad person. But you are mad and your heart is cold." She deduced, and the man lowered his head. "Who are you? What happened to you?" She wondered now with concern in her voice.

"I can't tell you." The man admitted. "If I do, my existence will be threatened." And May understood it. The little she knew about the man was he was some kind of Time Traveler. So she deduces knowing too much was dangerous. "You only need to know that I wish you no harm. The whole contrary. I'm trying to save you, from him." And May blinked twice. The man then moved his hand, and May's dream world took form. "Last time you saw this, it wasn't a dream but Celebi bringing you back in time and using his powers so no one could see you." The man explained. And May understood the Pokémon with the emerald eyes whipping out her memory was a Celebi, a legendary Pokémon. "This time, however, it is a real memory. Not yours, but mine. There is no way you could have remembered this, since you were unconscious." And May widened her eyes and saw her younger-self, unconscious and inside the unknown forest. She then saw the boy of her dreams. "You can't remember him, Celebi erased him from your memories. Right now you aren't ready to know who he is. Otherwise, I will disappear. I'm just going to say that this boy, he will be responsible for what happens to you in your future."

"Stay away from her! I promised I would always protect her! Go…!" She heard a bell and saw a shadow attacking the man. The man from her memory slapped the shadow and sent it flying toward a tree. "No! I won't let you hurt her! I will defeat you with my newest friend!" A blurry Pokéball rested on his hands. The boy took an odd pose with the ball between both of his hands and pointing it toward his objective, he then pressed the Pokéball and released a green fairy-like creature. "Guardian of the Forest, Celebi!" The boy called.

"Fool! That Pokéball can be opened only once! Now it is useless!" The man mentioned, only this time it was a memory he was forcing May to see. "But it's okay, I don't need to capture him. Celebi, all I want is for you to transport me to the beginning of time! I need to find your creator! Obey me, and I promise not to use your powers for harm anymore." But the Celebi just moved its head in negation, and then attacked using its psychic powers. The man hid behind his cloak and endured the hit. "So be it. I will force you into helping me then. Salamence!" The man called, and the gigantic creature came out from its Pokéball. May noticed it was a purple one with an 'M' on it. "Only the GS Pokéball can hold your powers, wasting the Masterball on Salamence was a hard decision. But only Salamence is strong enough to accomplish my mission. Using the others was too risky." And the man ordered hi Pokémon. "Salamence, Dragon Claw!" He ordered.

"I won't let you! Celebi!" The boy then pushed Celebi away, and he got hit by the Dragon Claw attack. May covered her mouth, preventing a yell from escaping her lips. The man just moved his hand and forced the images to disappear, returning everything to darkness.

"After the boy was hit, many things happened." He explained, and May moved her head in negation trying to clear that image off her mind. "One of them was having Celebi erasing your memories. And perhaps, that was for the best. Since at that moment, when you saw the kid being wounded, you fell into a shock. One you were unable to wake up from, not without help that is." And May cried. The memory of the boy being hit by the Dragon Claw was printed on her mind. The moment repeated itself in front of her eyes over and over again. "The situation is already a dangerous one. It is about time you wake up. Otherwise you will fall for the same shock from back then." And May began banishing in her dream. She was waking up. "Meeting this boy again is inevitable. But I will save you. All I need is for Celebi to send me to the origin of time so I can be feed by the energy of it who gave birth to time. Only then, will I be an independent life form. Only then will I be able to save you." The man continued, and May faced him horrified. "Take care, my love. Live now, and enjoy it. Since as long as I breath, I will protect you." He promised, and then, May woke up.

* * *

**Pokémon: Beyond the Ties of Time.**

**The Kanto Saga**

**Chapter Four: Cerulean City and the GS Ball Secret.**

* * *

**Cerulean Ferris. Kanto.**

"May? We arrived to Cerulean City. Are you ready to… oh… she is not here." Brendan entered May's room with Mightyena, as usual by his side. The room was empty and clean, May's belongings weren't even inside of her room at the train they had boarded to reach Cerulean City. "Mightyena, can you sense her odor?" He asked, and Mightyena began sniffing around and then went out of the room following May's smell. Brendan walked after it around the corridors of the train until they arrived to the cafeteria. It was almost empty since the passengers had already left the train, but May was there by a table, with seven or more empty cups of coffee scattered around the table and another one at her hands. She tasted the black liquid and then stuck her tongue out disgusted. "May, you don't even like coffee, what is going on?" Brendan wondered.

"Good morning, Brendan!" She spoke out with energy despite her face and messed hair reflecting the whole contrary. Brendan and Mightyena both flinched at her reaction and backed off. "What are you saying? I love coffee! It keeps me awake! Coffee is great! You should try it!" She added with a sugar attack, and Brendan felt a drop of sweat falling in front of his face.

"OK, you are totally out of your mind." Brendan added while his eyebrow tickled him, and he took his Netball out. "Swampert, wake her up!" And once Swampert came out, it launched water toward May's face. The girl coughed hard a good number of times, but recovered after the sudden bath. "Now that you are fully awake, what's going on? Why are you drinking this much coffee? And why do you look like you hadn't slept in like forever?" Brendan showered her in questions. May just placed her hand at her forehead feeling beat.

"I had another strange dream… but I really don't feel like remembering it…" She confessed, and Brendan lowered his face. He was worried about May, more than usual, these dreams were threatening her health. "Brendan… even though we have been traveling for such a short while, I trust you. Maybe more than I should." She admitted, and Brendan felt honored for such trust. "But please… as long as we travel together, don't allow me to speak about my dreams to you." And Brendan's smile faded. "I want to forget about them. I don't want to remember them. Just make that promise to me, please…" She begged while rubbing her tired eyes.

"I promise." He said without even asking for a reason. The less Brendan wanted was to see May like this. "Living in dreams isn't a good thing anyway. Living the present is way much funnier." And May smiled and nodded in agreement. "Now, come. You forced me to interrupt my mission so you could see your old friend, so we better not leave her waiting!" Spoke Brendan with enthusiasm. May just giggled, for the first time since the day began, she felt as if her dream was only that, a dream. "That's the May I like, the cheerful one who dislikes coffee!" He added.

"Eh? The May you like?" She added with surprise, and Brendan blushed madly. She of course did the same. Swampert and Mightyena just rolled their eyes, and then Swampert launched his water attack toward Brendan, waking him up from his state. May giggled at that last, Brendan just directed a killer glare toward Swampert. "Brendan! You always light my day! So do your Pokémon!" She giggled happily, and Brendan couldn't help it but smile. "Now, let's go met my friend!" She then took his hand and pulled him out of the train, Swampert and Mightyena followed them outside with grins on their faces.

* * *

"So this is Cerulean City. It is quiet and peaceful." Brendan mentioned upon their arrival and while climbing down the train and helping May down. "I thought perhaps the new train station that runs all around Saffron City would force a city like this to be noisier. It is good to know it didn't." Just outside the station, there were the green fields that separated Cerulean from the train station. Despite the new technologies arriving and evolving the cities, the reality was it made Kanto's life-style easier, but never disturbed the quietness. In order to arrive to the city people still had to travel around the un-pavement roads toward the city, or take a carriage there. However, May and Brendan decided to walk. "It's been a long way from Vermillion to Cerulean. This friend of yours must be important." Brendan added.

"It wasn't that long of a trip, it took us only 3 days." May corrected Brendan's words. "And during those days, we managed to talk about our coordination skills and techniques, remember that we still need to get ready for the duo contests." And Brendan nodded in agreement. To tell the truth, the trip toward the train station and the two days they stayed at the train were enjoyable ones. At least during those moments May wasn't invaded by nightmares. That's the reason of why Brendan quit sleeping next to her bed every night and began giving more space to her. "And about Misty, she really is a good friend. I can't wait to see her again! I'm sure you and her will become friends quickly as well!" May finished.

"All that coffee is getting to your mind again. You are being noisy, May." Brendan added, and May sweat dropped. The sugar in her blood was forcing her to speak louder than usual. "Anyway, this seems like a nice place for a training session. I know you want to meet your friend, but we need some coordinator training as well. And here looks like a nice place to combine Swampert and Squirtle." Brendan pointed out and while facing a small lake in the middle of the city they just arrived at. There were many trainers traveling on bikes around it and enjoying strolls around the fountains with their Pokémon. "What do you say? Wanna train for a while?" He wondered, and May of course nodded.

"Squirtle and I are more than ready!" She added still hyper due to the effects of her coffee, forcing Brendan and Mightyena to sweat hard. May then sent her Squirtle out. The Pokémon's skin shined once released of its Pokéball. "Look at him! He is beautiful! Brendan, you did a great job taking care of it. I never saw Squirtle's skin this shiny! I'm so envious of your coordinator skills!" May added with jealousness, and many bystanders faced May's Squirtle, amazed by its beauty. Brendan then sent out his Swampert and pointed toward the center of the lake. Swampert obeyed, and went inside of the water and swum his way to the middle. "So, Squirtle's current attacks are Ice Beam, Bubbles, Rapid Spin and Water Gun. Do you think those moves are good enough?" May asked.

"For coordinating? Maybe. But your Squirtle will never have enough level to evolve if it doesn't learn better attacks." Brendan began with the teachings. "Look at Swampert for example. His known attacks are Waterfall, Earthquake, Ice Beam and Hammer Arm. Perhaps not the best attacks for coordinating, but combining them correctly and with good timing, those attack pull out a great performance. Allow me to show you." And May nodded. Swampert then closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles. "Now, use Earthquake!" And with a stomp, the water raised by the impact of the Earthquake. The many strollers felt the vibrations, but since the Earthquake wasn't used as an attack, no one panicked. "Controlling the intensity of an attack can help you in a performance. Swampert's attack normally would be stronger, but right now he only uses enough power to force an upside rain." Brendan mentioned, and the water of the lake vibrated at a repetitive resonance, that it looked like if needles of water were coming out of it, once the resonating was stable, Swampert pressed the Earthquake stronger, and the needles were launched upward, faking a reverse-like rain toward the sky.

"You faked a Rain Dance attack by using Earthquake?!" And Brendan nodded, May was amazed. A rainbow of light formed by the drops now floating upwards. "Strong attacks and coordination working together. I wonder if can learn it on time." And Squirtle noticed May's stare, May was so determined, that Squirtle decided to give it it's all and try to learn from Swampert's performance.

"Before the drops fall, use Hammer Arm!" And Swampert swung it's arms rapidly, forcing the rapid movements to cut the wind and force the drops to spin around the light and displaying a beautiful spin of light and water. "Let's finish the performance with a, Icebeam!" And Swampert nodded, and launched the attack, freezing the drops, creating small crystals that covered the lake in small shards of ice that reflected the light as in small rainbows, impressing all the witnesses. "Now, pose for the cameras" Brendan added, and Swampert stuck it's chest out proudly, displaying it's toughness. The bystanders, so did May. The performance was breath taking. "Even the strongest of attacks can be perfected for a performance. If Squirtle is to take part on contests, he better learns more attacks to catch up with Swampert. Otherwise, our coordination will be poor." Brendan explained.

"I get the point, but… you are such a show off…" May joked, and Brendan lost equilibrium and almost fell inside of the lake, but Mightyena bit his pants and pulled him back to the floor. "Squirtle, we aren't battlers, we are performers. But Brendan is right, we need more battle-experience and learn new moves. Otherwise, our performance will be shadowed by his own." And Squirtle nodded. May then clapped her hands together. "Then, let's have a battle to level you up. But…" May added and then faced Brendan, the boy raised an eyebrow at her stare. "He is so brutally strong! Fighting him would be useless!" And Squirlte nodded and cried, Brendan just slapped his own forehead.

"Hate to admit it, but you have a point." Brendan confessed. "My weakest Pokémon is Elekid, and even he is far stronger than the average Elekid. Not to mention he is an Electric-type. Fighting Squirtle would end painfully." And May nodded while hugging her crying Squirtle, Brendan just rubbed his chin trying to think. "If only your Squirtle evolved to Warturtle, he could stand a chance against my Pokémon. But I guess it can't be helped, after all, you are a full-time coordinator, unlike me." And May nodded once again, but with an odd face that went between depression and indifference. Brendan sweat dropped when seeing that face. "Don't give me that face. It's not my fault to be strong." Brendan mentioned. "And even if I'm strong, I'm not strong enough. I still need to get stronger." Brendan admitted.

"Can you even become stronger? That's truly scary." May admitted. "At any rate, I won't be able to catch up if you don't quit being so strong and challenging and a show off." And Brendan crossed his arms in annoyance, May of course was joking, but she had a point. "I need someone closer to my level so I can become a respectable coordinator. How am I to do that if I can't even battle you?" May complained.

"You can ask your old friends to help you train." Someone called out. May and Brendan turned around, there they say a young girl with orange hair that went down to her neck. She was wearing jeans that uncovered her talons and a blue no sleeved shirt, she was also carrying a baby Azurill with her. Next to her was a boy with green hair and a red bandana around his forehead, he was wearing a long and green colored T-shirt, and brown shorts. May smiled when seeing them both. "Long time no see, May!" The girl added.

"Misty!" May exclaimed and ran toward Misty and hugged her hard. Unfortunately for the baby Azurill, it ended sandwiched. "I'm so glad to see you again! And Tracey, it's been so long!" The boy just smiled and took the sandwiched Azurill from Misty's arms once the two girls broke the hug. "I was sooooo looking forward to seeing you again! I'm so happy! You changed your hair style?" May added while pointing at Misty's hair.

"Only temporally. My sisters pulled me to a salon not long ago. I refused, but well, I can't complain about the results." Misty admitted. "Tracey in the other hand thinks they could have done better." She finished. May then heard the sounds of a pair of scissors closing from time to time, and May flinched, turned around fast, and faced a Brendan with a dark aura and an evil smile that was now picturing a way better haircut style for Misty. "Eh? What is going on?" Spoke Misty out scared of Brendan's aura, and Brendan was about to go after Misty, when May grabbed him from behind, saving Misty from a sudden change of hair style.

"Don't stop me! Such atrocity can't be accepted! Such incomplete haircut can't be allowed to exist! I most correct this insult to beauty!" And May moved her head in negation various times while trying to push Brendan away from Misty. "Out of place lines! Bad made cuts! It is surely a haircut made following the instructions of a book instead of the reflect of the heart!" Brendan continued with a vein popping at his forehead.

"Squirtle! Watergun!" May ordered, and Squirtle splashed Brendan's face, waking him up from his coordinator-freak state. Once he did, he felt the force of May pulling him back, and they both ended hitting the floor hard by May's pulling. "Thanks the heavens I could stop you on time." Spoke May out once both recovered from the falling, Misty and Tracey just exchanged looks. "The beauty police right here is Brendan. We are now traveling together. He is a nice person, but he usually gets carried away when something hurts his eyesight." And Brendan smiled nervously when noticing he still had his scissors on his hands. He hid them and smiled oddly for the pair in front of him.

"Brendan Birch." Brendan began. "Master Pokémon Coordinator and future Pokémon League Champion. It is a pleasure to meet you." And once again, Tracey and Misty exchanged looks. They then smiled nervously at him. "Don't look at her hair, keep staring elsewhere, her hair is perfect, her hair is perfect." He kept saying over and over again, May just pulled his hat down, covering his eyes in the progress. "Thanks… but don't… ever… touch my hat again…" He added with a scary dark aura surrounding him, and May flinched and nodded with a fake smile.

* * *

Hours later, the whole group was at the pool of Cerulean Gym. May was swimming happily with Swampert, Squirtle and Tracey's Marill while the mentioned trainer began drawing the whole thing at his sketchbook. Mightyena was sleeping at the corner of the pool. As for Misty, she was also enjoying the water by splashing her feet from time to time at the pool. But she couldn't go inside because a certain beauty-freak was now fixing the supposed atrocity that was Misty's hair. "Now I get it, your obsession with beauty is something abnormal in a trainer aspiring to be a Pokémon League Champion. But, if you are as good as May claims you are, then I can't help but accept your help." Misty added while Brendan cut her hair down. "Thought I don't care about my hair that much anyway." Misty explained.

"Girls should always care for the way they look! Not doing it is an insult! I should find the one who cut your hair like this and put a demand on such horrible skills!" And May and Misty began laughing at Brendan's obsession with beauty. Brendan just ignored them both and continued cutting Misty's hair, and fixing his glasses from time to time. He only wore them when he was cutting hair or caring for a Pokémon's fur.

"I didn't know you wore glasses, Brendan. They look good on you!" Spoke May out. Brendan just blushed madly and then faced away embarrassed. "What? Hey! Why are you ignoring me like that?! How rude! I was only praising you!" May complained, and Brendan just gulped and then walked away. Misty's hair was now fixed, and Brendan could finally escape. "Hey! Brendan! Come back here! What's going on with you so out of the sudden?" And May made it out of the pool and ran after Brendan, she then spun him around so he would face her, but Brendan quickly pulled his hat down to his eyes so she wouldn't see his blush. "What? So you aren't going to face me now? Take that hat off!" May complained.

"I don't want too! Don't touch my hat!" And Misty and Tracey began laughing out loud. May heard their laughter and stared at them both. Brendan pulled his hat to normality and then stared at May in annoyance. "Let's get this clear already! Nobody! And I mean nobody! Touches my hat!" And May faced him back. Brendan then blushed madly, he ran his eyes around May's body, and his face went crimson red when seeing her wearing her blue bikini. He gulped and went back to bury his face inside of his hat. "I need a splash!" He said and then ran toward the pool, launching himself inside cannon ball style and splashing Tracey and Misty. Both then began laughing out loud and making fun of the embarrassed Brendan.

"Can you please tell me what's wrong with you?! Why are you acting like this?!" And Brendan made it out of the water, but faced the opposite direction. He then pretended to be playing with his Swampert, who just sweat dropped at everything that was going on. May then sat next to Misty in annoyance. "Stupid Brendan! He is such an odd person. How dare he ignore me like this? How rude!" May continued complaining.

"Don't blame him, May. Isn't it obvious what is going on?" Misty wondered, and May just moved her head in negation. Misty just smiled. "If you can't notice it, then you deserve to be confused." And May lowered her face. "When there is one who is oblivious, everything is just more wonderful. I hope Brendan finds the courage before it is too late." And May blinked twice. Misty just stood up with new found energies. "Then it's settled! Brendan Birch! I, Misty, the Gym Leader of Cerulean City, challenge you to a Gym Leader battle!" And Brendan turned around surprised. Misty just took a cool pose and smiled. "Let's have some fun! Show me what you are made of!" She insisted.

"What? But I don't want to! I don't even know if I will take the Pokémon League Challenge or not!" Brendan complained. Misty just sent her Pokémon out, her Politoed. "An unauthorized Pokémon?" Brendan wondered. Misty nodded. "Maybe I was wrong to judge Kanto Gym Leaders. Everyone says it is the easiest league, but that's only because they are forced to use native Pokémon of the region. I have this feeling… perhaps Giovanni sent me here knowing that." And Misty's Psyduck then came out on his own. Brendan then noticed how the pathetic Pokémon tried to swim with no luck only to end called back by Misty. She then blushed in embarrassment. "On second thoughts… maybe they are right about Kanto Gym Leaders." And Misty felt a vein popping at her forehead.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Will you accept?" Misty complained, and this time the one with the vein at his forehead was Brendan, who nodded in agreement. "Then, let's have a two on two battle using only water type Pokémon. If you are as good as May thinks you are, you will be able to emerge victorious." And Brendan raised an eyebrow, Misty then smiled toward May. "I will have Tracey as my partner, you can be Brendan's one!" Misty added while facing a puzzled May.

"Eh? What!? No way! I won't be able to concentrate!" Brendan complained, Misty smiled evilly, May just blinked twice at him out of curiosity, and upon noticing the stare, Brendan faced away and blushed. "At least allow us to have a change of clothes! Battling like this is uncomfortable!" But Misty refused, and Brendan lowered his face. "I have this feeling this challenge has a different propose than testing my skills." Brendan admitted.

"Misty, are you sure of this?" Wondered Tracey. "I'm no battler, and my only Water Type Pokémon is Marill." Tracey tried to explain. Misty then pointed at May making it out of the pool and approaching to Brendan, the boy still wearing his glasses faced away shamed. "Should you really be forcing him?" Tracey asked with a mockery.

"But of course!" Misty continued. "It is my mission!" And Tracey sweat dropped. Misty just blinked an eye at him. "If I can't have a proper relationship, the less I can do is help others enjoy one." And Tracey nodded despite not really approving Misty's intentions. He then called his Marill to him. "We are ready whenever you two are!" Yelled Misty toward the pair at the other side of the pool.

"Almost ready!" Yelled May back from the other side of the pool. But the two of them were far from being ready. "Brendan, this isn't the first or the last time we will team up to battle. Last time you weren't acting like this. Did I do something to upset you?" And May touched Brendan's shoulder, and he flinched and backed off. "Fine! Be like that! I don't need your help to win this battle! Get ready, Squirtle!" And the tortoise Pokémon nodded barely. "I don't know what got into you but I don't like it!" May added with rage.

"There is nothing wrong! I just can't see you right now!" And May stomped her foot at the floor hard. Brendan just flinched and faced away. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I just can't help it, ok? Let's get this over with, Swampert!" And a worried Swampert also placed himself in position. It was nervous by the lack of concentration of its master. "Let's start with Waterfall!" Brendan commanded. Swampert nodded and unleashed his attack, forcing the water around him to surround him. Swampert then jumped high surrounded by the water and toward its opponent. Only, while doing it so, it forced a heavy wave to hit Squirtle.

"Brendan! Be more careful! Look at what you did to Squirtle!" May added in concern, and when Brendan faced Squirtle, he saw the little Pokémon being raged away by the water Swampert pulled when casting his attack. "Concentrate in what you are doing! This is a double battle!" And Brendan faced away once again, but then he faced the battlefield and noticed Politoed had evaded the attack by bouncing on top of Swampert's head. "Squirtle, let's rush to the battle! Help Swampert out!" And Squirtle nodded and began swimming toward Swampert, also launching his bubble's attack and helping Swampert do a soft landing. "Brendan, wake up! Remember Squirtle is no combatant!" May yelled.

"Misty, I don't think this battle will be able to take place." Mentioned Tracey. "Even if Swampert is at such a high level, if Brendan can't concentrate and command it, Swampert is done for." And Misty nodded and smiled, indicting to Tracey that it was part of her plan all along. "This doesn't even feel like a Gym Leader battle. Marill, let's help Brendan out of this embarrassment by ending this fast, use Defense Curl!" And Marill obeyed and began shinning with blue energy. "Now use Rollout!" The round Pokémon then jumped and began spinning, it did it fast enough to spin around the pool and on top of the water, Marill then hit both Squirtle and Swampert with his attack. "This is almost too easy." Tracey admitted.

"That's because Brendan got a beautiful distraction next to him." Misty explained and blinked her eye toward Tracey. "Unless he finds a way to ignore that distraction, this battle is ours!" May then understood what was going on. She faced Brendan, and her friend just kept staring away while sweating hard. "Politoed! Finish them with your Water Pulse!" A sphere of water formed at Politoed's hands, it launched the attack toward Swampert. The usually relaxed Pokémon stared at Brendan and at the sphere heading his way not knowing what to do, Brendan tried to command his Pokémon to dive and evade the attack, but nothing came out of his lips and Swampert was hit and knocked down.

"Brendan?" May yelled, and Brendan flinched once again and faced away. "I'm kinda happy for this, but also, I know I shouldn't." May admitted. Brendan blinked twice and faced her, but only for a second before pulling his hat down to cover his eyes. "Try to resist while I'm back! Everything will be fine, I promise!" And with that last said, May ran away from the battlefield. Brendan, Tracey and Misty were all confused, Squirtle just swam in circles not knowing what to do. "Just try to follow Brendan's lead, Squirtle! I'm coming back as soon as I can!" May ordered, and Squirtle flinched when hearing that order.

"Is that even legal?" Tracey questioned Misty, the Gym Leader moved her shoulders up and down not really knowing what to say, she was a singles Gym Leader, and double battles were new to her. "I guess we have no choice but continue. Marill, keep the Rollout going!" And Marill spun once again, this time faster than the first one, however, this time Marill found something preventing him from spinning, a flash of light had hit him, Swampert's Hammer Arm "Marill!"

"Squirtle! Use Water Gun!" Brendan ordered, a determination full stare was drawn on his face. Squirtle obeyed Brendan and stroke Marill with the attack, Brendan's was now back to be his usual self. Misty could see it through his cool looking glasses. "I need to finish this before May comes back, and pushing the weakest Pokémon down first is the way to do it. Swampert, use Ice Beam!" Brendan ordered, and the started Pokémon happily obeyed the command.

"Politoed! Help Marill with Protect!" Politoed was then surrounded by a crystal sphere, saving Marill from the impact. "If you thought we were that weak then think again! I am a Gym Leader! I always fight with all my power! Politoed! Psychic!" Both Swampert and Squirtle were hit. Brendan bit his lips in annoyance. "Commanding two Pokémon at a same time is hard, more if you command a Pokémon that isn't yours. I think victory is ours!" Misty showed off.

"Don't count us out yet, Misty!" May came running toward Brendan. He as usual looked away and lost all his concentration when hearing May coming. "It's all fine, Brendan. You can look at me now." She said with enthusiasm, Brendan faced her and then blushed. May, who was blushing as well, was now covering her body with a blue towel. "You were embarrassed since I was wearing my swimsuit. It was my fault all along, I'm sorry to be the source of your distraction." She added happily and with a smile. "So, if you are feeling better now, shall we continue with the battle?" She wondered, and Brendan nodded a little, still embarrassed, but now able to concentrate at least.

"…Let's do this…" He added with enthusiasm, and May nodded while keeping her blush. Brendan fixed his glasses and stared at Misty and Tracey with an evil grin drawn on his face. "Ok! Swampert, let's finish this now! Hammer Arm!" Swampert's hands shined with the energy of his soon to be attack, he then unleashed it toward the water, releasing the energy of the fighting type move and generating raging waters toward Politoed. The green water-type Pokémon jumped, avoiding the attack that hit the water and exploded. "Missed!" He said with a smile.

"But Squirtle is ready to take over!" Squirtle came out from the water and withdrew inside of his shell. It then spun around and hit Politoed in midair. "Great job, Squirtle! Now use Water Gun!" And Squirtle launched many strong water based attacks. Brendan widened his eyes, smiled, and then faced May.

"He is ready?!" He mentioned, and May faced Brendan back. "Your Squirtle is finally ready for a new move! Order Squirtle to use the move Aqua Tail! Swampert, while Squirtle gets ready, keep Marill and Politoed away with Ice Beam!" And Swampert launched the attack toward the mentioned Pokémon. Marill was hit and out but Politoed could still continue and bounced toward Swampert.

"Squirtle! Use Aqua Tail!" May ordered, although she didn't knew the move at all. "Squirtle began spinning its tail as reply. Water came out of it and spun around it as a star, the beauty of the attack surprised May, her eyes sparkled with the emotion of the situation. Brendan stared at her during those short moments, his eyes forever directed to her smile. The attack hit Politoed, sending him flying down toward Swampert.

"It's all over! Hammer Arm!" He ordered, Swampert obeyed and punched Politoed while it was falling and knocked it unconscious. Misty and Tracey had both lost. "Victory is ours!" He yelled proudly, May jumped happily and hugged Brendan hard, forcing him to blush extremely hard. "This is uncomfortable. May, we are going to fall! Watch out!" And both fell inside of the pool. Swampert and Squirtle both swum toward them and happily greeted them.

"Sorry!" She said, but was interrupted by her Squirtle hugging her. "I'm so proud of you!" she added. Suddendly, light surrounded Squirtle. May and Brendan both stared at it as Squirtle began evolving. When the light was finally gone, Warturtle appeared. With teary eyes, May hugged it hard. "Warturtle!" The moment, however, was interrupted by the sound of Misty's hands being clapped.

"Congratulations, Brendan and May. Both of you have won this." Misty mentioned and then threw the Cascade Badge toward the couple. Brendan caught it and stared at it. "I had my fun! Now all that is left is to wait for whenever the time comes for you two to admit it." Misty grinned, and Brendan flinched. May just stared at him and blushed at his reaction. "Now, I would like to speak with you, May. In private." And May nodded and left the water, making sure she didn't lose her towel so Brendan wouldn't end embarrassed any further. Misty waved her hand to Brendan and Tracey and then walked May toward the dressing rooms, where she threw a dry towel to her. "Have you noticed it yet? After all I did for you two to realize it you better have." Misty added with enthusiasm.

"I don't know what you are talking about, Misty!" May began with an odd face. "Brendan and I are just friends, nothing more than just that." She said while drying her hair. Misty just gave her an odd and full with disappointment stare. "Even if I wanted it to be different, Brendan wouldn't like it." May began now calmer, and Misty blinked twice at that reaction. "After all, there is a person Brendan already has feelings for." She admitted, and Misty lowered her face.

"Oh no! I hate when that happens!" Misty yelled hard, worried about May. But the girl directed a soft a warm smile toward Misty. "Come on May, haven't you noticed the way he looks at you? It is obvious he likes you. Someone had to be blind not to notice it." Misty insisted.

"Thanks for trying to help me, Misty. But the true is Brendan and I can't be more than just friends." She explained, and Misty faced her in concern. "It is true, I like Brendan in a special way, but I already convinced myself that I don't want to be on a relationship with him, even if I wanted I couldn't." And Misty crossed her arms, not being at all convinced. "What Brendan and I have can't grow any further, because he has someone he loves already… and so do I?" And Misty was surprised to hear such revelation, May just smiled. "Such is the reason of why Brendan and I can only be the best friends ever." She insisted.

"Are you sure? You mean I played matchmakers not knowing you two already had someone else?" And May nodded, Misty just lowered her face. "But you two seem as if you belonged together! I was anxiously waiting to see the results!" But then, Misty blinked twice out of surprise. "Wait, is your crush someone I know?" And May blinked twice, Misty was of course only being selfish while thinking about a certain someone. May, however, moved her head in negation. "Then who is him?" Misty insisted.

"A boy who saved my life long time ago. He was dark haired and wore glasses. I don't even remember his name… his face is also a mystery to me. But someone told me not long ago that meeting that person again is inevitable." And May's eyes then widened. Memories of the strings of hair falling from inside of Brendan's hat and covering his face appeared on her mind. And then the memory of him battling while wearing his glasses invaded her mind. "…Could Brendan be…?" May began, Misty just raised an eyebrow, May then suddenly complained about a strong pain on her head. "What was I… thinking about just now?" She went to her knees weakly. Misty ran to her and held her on her arms.

"May! What happened?!" Misty yelled out of fear. May then woke up from her trance, moved her head a good number of times, and then stared at Misty with confusion. "What happened just now, May? You fell and lost consciousness for a few seconds just now." Misty explained.

"I fell down?" May asked, she then noticed Misty was holding her before her body hit the floor. "I guess the floor was slippery." She mentioned, Misty just stared at her with disbelief. "What were we talking about just now?" Misty once again feared something was wrong, she placed her hand at May's forehead, and then at hers. "Misty?"

"Maybe it's only my imagination… let's get dressed, ok?" And May nodded. Misty then walked her toward the locker room and invited her in, although the whole time she wondered if she had just imagined what had happened before.

* * *

"It's shining again." Brendan mentioned toward Mightyena, and the Pokémoin took the Pokéball and the shinning stopped. It then delivered the Pokéball to Brendan, who stared at it for a few moments. Brendan then faced the direction May and Misty left for not long ago. "…Please… don't allow her to forget about me…" Tracey noticed Brendan's worries, and then placed his hand at his shoulder, the boy was startled and allowed the Pokéball to escape his hands and hit the floor. Mightyena then picked it up and ran away. "Tracey! Don't do that!" Brendan complained.

"Sorry, but I couldn't help it but notice that's the GS ball! Where did you get it?" Brendan blinked twice, Tracey continued. "Looks like you don't know what that is." Tracey continued, and Brendan moved his head in negation. "The GS ball was created by a craft master long time ago. However, no one ever knew what it was for. Many had investigated the ball, it is sealed and can't be opened. I heard the last time anyone saw that ball was in the possession of Kurt, the descendant of the person who crafted that ball."

"Kurt?" Tracey nodded. Brendan then stared at Mightyena and asked it to bring the ball back to him. "I have had this Pokéball since I have memory." Brendan began, and Tracey sat with him by the pool, placing his legs inside of the water. "My first memory ever is waking up at my bed back at Hoenn… my face was bandaged, and Poochyena came to me holding this Pokéball inside of its mouth…" Brendan then presses the center of the Pokéball, it then grew to its common size. "It's like a normal Pokéball to me, but it doesn't open. I have tried it all, but I can't release what is inside… if I only had a clue… I wish to help the Pokémon trapped inside but it won't open."

"I don't know how you managed to find the GS ball." Tracey continued. "I heard Professor Oak and Kurt talking about it long time ago. Apparently, it got lost, and now you have it. This is something professor Oak should probably know about." But the GS Ball shined once again, and Brendan quickly threw it toward Mightyena. The Pokémon caught it and the light faded. "What was that?!" Tracey yelled out of surprise.

"The Pokémon inside of the Pokéball wants to be released. It got the power to erase someone's memories." And Tracey flinched when hearing that last. "I found out long ago that such power was probably Dream Eater, a psychic type attack. So, when giving the ball to Mightyena, the Pokéball loses its power since Mightyena is a dark type Pokémon and is unaffected by psychic moves. That's why I selected Mightyena as the ball's guardian." And Tracey nodded, impressed by Brendan's deduction. "The Pokémon inside surely felt danger when you said you should call professor Oak. It wants to stay with me and he will erase the memory of anyone interfering." And Tracey gulped, Brendan just continued. "Don't tell Professor Oak about this." Brendan asked.

"Don't worry, I will keep the secret!" Tracey added while sweat dropping. "So there is a Pokémon inside. That's fascinating, Brendan! If your only interest is opening the Pokéball then I promise to investigate the professor's notes and communicate to you any new findings! I will be your helper in opening the GS ball!" Tracey offered.

"You heard that? He will help us release you, he isn't your enemy." Brendan mentioned and then asked Mightyena to deliver the ball to him. Tracey backed off thinking it would try to erase his mind once again, but the ball never shined again. "I promised I would help you, and I'm planning on doing just that. I just wish you would allow me to tell May about this. But every time she finds out something about me, you erase her memories… for me, that is very painful…" And Tracey lowered his face, Brendan did the same. "I must leave now, I promised May we would visit more of her friends before I could continue with my missions. Tracey, it was a pleasure to have met you." Brendan added and offered his hand to Tracey, who nodded and accepted the hand shaking.

"The pleasure is all mine, we will keep in touch." Brendan then stood up and left for the changing room, followed by Mightyena and toward the locker's section. Brendan then smilled since he now had met someone who could help him in his mission to release the Pokémon trapped inside the gold and silver Pokéball.

* * *

Not long after the battle was over, and once both Brendan and May had changed into their usual clothes, both made it out of the gym while waving their hands toward Tracey and Misty, resuming their journey around the Kanto region and heading toward the mountainous range at the outsides of Cerulean City. "Next destination, Pewter City!" May exclaimed happily. "Another friend of mine, Brock, is going to visit his hometown before heading out on a new journey. I'm sure you will surely like him, he is just like you, workaholic and with a sensitive side." May added while making fun of Brendan.

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" He asked while delivering an odd stare toward May. "Whatever, at least we are heading close to my next target… Blaine, Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island, Fire type user… this is turning out to be kinda annoying." Brendan complained, and May faced him in concern. "The Kanto Pokémon League challenge was one I didn't want to take yet. And so far I have faced two Gym Leaders and earned their badges." And May giggled, Brendan just glared at her oddly. "Let me guess, you see more Gym Leader Battles in my future." Brendan added with annoyance.

"There is a Gym in Pewter City, that's as much as I will say." May continued while giggling at Brendan, the teen just sweat dropped, May just giggled even more. "Let's hurry, the road toward Pewter City is a long one, and I'm not sure of how much longer Brock will remain at Kanto." And May grabbed Brendan's hand and ran toward the mountains, Brendan followed her, the sun was already hiding, but for the two friends the day was long from being over. Pewter City is the new destination, countdown to deadline, 70 days left.


End file.
